** Numbered Limited Edition 180 g, One White Sky Blue LP and one White LP ** With Felona E/And Sorona 2016, Le Orme return to one of the central myths of Italian progressive rock and ask what it means to reopen a world first imagined in 1973. The original Felona e Sorona told the story of two imaginary planets - one perpetually blessed by light, the other condemned to darkness and catastrophe - as an allegory of imbalance, fate, and the fragile symmetry of existence. In this new 2016 incarnation, the band doesn’t simply remaster the past; they rebuild it from the inside, using updated keyboards, production, and extended suites to reframe the narrative for contemporary ears.
The album opens and closes with long instrumental sessions where synths, organ, and layered keyboards immerse the listener in a dreamlike, lyrical atmosphere, almost like stepping into a widened prologue and epilogue to the original story. These expanded sections underline what has always been Le Orme’s core strength: the ability to fuse symphonic writing and melodic clarity with exploratory, almost space‑rock textures. The familiar themes of the concept - the oscillation between light and shadow, prosperity and ruin, hope and inevitable reversal - are translated here into contrasts of timbre and density: airy, luminous passages give way to darker, more electronic stretches that hint at post‑industrial unease rather than purely pastoral prog.
Across the set, the 2016 version leans into a more electronic and spatial palette than the band had at its disposal in the early 70s, sometimes adding a three‑dimensional layer that was only latent before. Synth pads and processed textures now wrap around the classic organ and piano lines, while the rhythm section alternates between tight, almost mechanical drive and looser, more fluid interplay reminiscent of the original trio’s swing. The effect is to make the planets feel less like static archetypes and more like evolving environments: Felona’s brightness gains a strange glare, Sorona’s darkness glows with residual energy, and the balance between them becomes more ambiguous.
As a reworking, Felona E/And Sorona 2016 inevitably invites comparison with the 1973 landmark, but it dodges the nostalgia trap by foregrounding the band’s present rather than trying to perfectly mimic their younger selves. Vocals, arrangements, and production choices reflect the decades that have passed, accepting changed timbres and pacing as part of the story rather than something to hide. For long‑time listeners, the record offers the pleasure of recognition refracted through time; for new listeners, it functions as a self‑contained portal into Le Orme’s universe, where Italian symphonic prog, subtle jazz inflections, and traces of psychedelia still circle around a single, enduring question: how do twin worlds - or twin versions of the same music - mirror, contradict, and transform each other as they spin.
