Andrea BELFI
Between Neck & Stomach
HAPNA
H 29 CD 2007

 This is Italy-based Andrea Belfi's second full-length release. Belfi is the drummer of Rosolina Mar and is a member of Medves along with Giuseppe Ielasi, Stefano Pilia, Renato Rinaldi and Riccardo Wanke. In 2002, Belfi embarked on a vast project, which, in time, would become Between Neck & Stomach. The first recordings took place at Valerio Tricoli's (member of 3/4HadBeenEliminated) house in Bologna. Between Neck & Stomach is grounded on two core elements: the first is the material collected during the unique experiment of turning a house into "a living creature with its own voice" (just one example: a synth emitting one continuous note shaking a cupboard filled with pots, pans and plates). The second core element is the choice of just one thematic note per song, around which each track is built and balanced. In this challenging album, the acoustic elements and the electronic ones mingle, intertwine and sometimes switch places: the acoustic sounds are treated as if they were electronic, and the actual electronic sounds are played at the very moment. This album sketches imaginary landscapes where drums, guitars and voices blend into a bunch of eclectic tracks, which, in spite of their radical minimalist roots, are definitively worthy of the name "songs."