Andrea Rottin – Songs About Nightmares

Songs About Nightmares draws on the astonishing vocal ambition of Rottin, who seems to be tire very quickly of presenting his voice in a straight manner.

http://www.maledetto.it

Now, this guy is special. So special that this short LP (30 minutes or so in length) really doesn’t do his talent justice. So, please, before I start the review in earnest, promise me. Go and see him live.

Songs About Nightmares draws on the astonishing vocal ambition of Rottin, who seems to be tire very quickly of presenting his voice in a straight manner – check out the insane Sousedovic Pes… As well as this the LP highlights the singer’s professed love of meandering talents like Barrett, Stanshall and Alex Harvey. The chord structures in particular reminds the listener of Barrett; Ruski Cat Song is a modern extension of the Barrett lonely boy muse, and opener Truck Song and the woozy Country Song amble along in a hermetically sealed pastoral haze – very much like The Madcap Laughs’ more restful moments.

The eccentric Austria recalls Harvey and Viv S, and is as close as you can get to comic opera on an acoustic guitar. A further word about Country Style; the break half way through is as surprising as it is enervating, and is definitely the LP’s highlight. There are gothic moments too; Gentle Voices is the aural equivalent of a spooky plod through a graveyard, and Locked and EXPLODE! are pretty strange mumbling takes.

The lad is a bit demented, there can be no doubt of that (as the coruscating And No Businessmen Out There will testify), but he’s a real talent and you should all check him out.