Prog (UK) November 2018

Review of Monty. Brussels based Italian art-rock ingénue takes us to a bewildering trip.

Sneaked out at the start of the Summer, Monty makes a lot more sense as the soundtrack to a wet and windy autum. Multi-instrumentalist Emiliano Deferrari dwells squarely in art-rock territory with all the expected side orders of jazz, musique concrète and freewheeling minimalism, but this is a timeless collection of smart but soulful songs; the italian's more freaky instinct held in check by a sublime musicality and knack for subtly skewed textures. Educated observers will spot plenty of obvious influences here, but it's Peter Hammill's solo work that seems most pertinent: as with the Van der Graaf legend, Deferrari follows no clear blueprint for his songs, preferring to sway with the wind, taking in everything from instrumental acoustic guitar pieces to the lurching, Bill Nelson-esque anti-funk of White Life. The closing Fuoco's underlying groove borders on Balearic house music, albeit with droning brass, torrential strings and, from Deferrari, a precise, poetic vocal that will make most of us dearly wish we could speak Italian. Bursting with brilliant ideas but also pointedly, consistently unsetting, Monty is a fascinating journey through the wild mind of a maverick. DL