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Sandro Perri, "Plays Polmo Polpo"
Following the 2003 release of Like Hearts Swelling, Sandro Perri began performing under his own name, incorporating more organic sounds as opposed to the processing, and perhaps overprocessing, that Polmo Polpo was regarded for. This five-track EP provides a conceptual bridge between the older sound and new sound as it began as reinterpretations of the songs from Like Hearts Swelling but has evolved a bit further.
Originally sold as a four-song CD-R at shows, the most immediately noticable difference is its length. While Like Hearts Swelling was over 45 minutes, this one, with the same number of songs, is only slightly more than 25. The music is what would be expected from that: songs which get to the point a lot quicker than in their original form, which originally stretched to over 11 and 13 minutes at times. Technicalities aside, to me the songs only even faintly resemble the songs bearing the same names on Like Hearts Swelling.
While there's no indication on the CD that there's anybody else performing on these songs than Perri, the songs sound like they're recorded by a group, perhaps the group which has backed up Perri on live dates over the last few years. "Romeo Heart," now "Romeo Heart (Slight Return)," features what sounds like melodica, flute, bass clarinet, and strings along with some manual knob twiddling and very sparse guitar where the original tune was buried under mountains of echoes and delays, a characteristic known by some as "the MSG of experimental music." "Requiem for a Fox," however, sounds like a full band with drums, bass guitar, and vocals, barely even resembling the original, which, in its 11+ minute form took forever to get to the melody of the track, which, at best was rather meandering compared to this new take."Sky Historie" now features muted trumpet alongside the bluesy guitar and chime sounds, and like the previous track, when you add the new vocals in, it's hard to find the similarities with the original.
I'm only convinced that "Dreaming" is Perri alone, as it consists only of vocals with acoustic guitar and what could be a bass drum kick. Both this and the following "Dreaming" sound like they were recorded in my kitchen but they're both endearingly charming. I love Perri's voice here, as it's slightly whimsical but undoubtedly pretty, complimenting the rhythmic guitar, as it is on "Circles," which isn't far from form as "Dreaming."
Sandro Perri has either notably progressed in his abilities as a guitarist and arranger or he's simply less shy about his playing and singing (or a combination of the both), which is a good thing. Perhaps if he goes back to recording as Polmo Polpo, these elements will make their way to the forefront of the songs, but in the meatime, it will be good to hear a full Sandro Perri album.
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