Insolubilia is the second studio album by Italian Ske.
Ske is the solo project of Italian keyboardist Paulo Botta. Botta is known as a member of the ultra-complex avant-prog band Yugen and the band Not A Good Sign, which he leads himself.
Insolubilia is Latin for ” unsolvable ”. In medieval philosophy, the word also refers to various variations of the so-called liar’s paradox (”This proposition is untrue”). Botta chose this term as the title of his album because he hoped its music would have a depth that might not be revealed on first hearing, but that would awaken the desire for further listening, which in turn might eventually lead to the unravelling of its mysteries. There is certainly plenty of depth in Botta’s complex music, but whether it contains anything to solve is of course left to each listener to decide for themselves.
The first album released under the Ske name was the highly acclaimed 1000 Autunni in 2011. That album deserved its praise, but I think Insolubilia manages to improve on 1000 Autunni in all areas.
Stylistically, Insolubilia is a fairly natural follow-up to its predecessor from ten years ago. Like 1000 Autunni, Insolubilia is mostly instrumental music that balances somewhere between symphonic progressive rock and avant-prog. The music is very complex in places, but also offers strong melodies to counterbalance them, and there is little of the atonality typical of many avant-prog albums. Insolubilia is more or less somewhere between Not A Good Sign and Yugen. Insolubilia’s music is not as extremely complex as that of Yugen, led by guitarist Francesco Zago, which sometimes seems to succumb to self-serving complexity, but on the other hand it doesn’t rock as hard as Not A Good Sign either, but contains more of the chamber music-like tones that Yugen’s music also offers at times.
The members of Yugen and Not As A Good Sign also form the core band of Insolubilia. Botta himself plays most of the keyboards on the album, Yugen’s Zago can be heard on guitar and most of the drums are picked by Martino Malacrid, drummer of Not A Good Sign. The bass guitar role is shared between several musicians, and Insolubilia have plenty of them. Indeed, the album, a remote project alongside Botta, features an insanely great and wide-ranging group of guest musicians. In addition to members of Yugen and Not A Good Sign, the more than 20 guests include musicians from Stormy Six, Isildurs’ Bane, Camembert, Goblin and Present. Botta must be a popular guy in the more experimental progressive rock scene to have this kind of cast of characters on his album. Thanks to this group, Insolubilia’s instrumentation is really rich. In addition to the typical rock instrumentation, the album features harpsichord, trumpet, harp, mandolin, vibraphone, marimba, saxophones, flute, bassoon and violin and clarinet, which play a very prominent role.
As you can see from the instrument list above, Insolubilia is a very acoustic album, but the sound is at the same time very modern and crisp. Botta’s compositions and arrangements have a strong chamber music feel, but the same rock-like energy lurks always around the corner.
Read also: Black Midi – Hellfire (2022)
The album consists of 11 tracks, five of which are part of the ”Insolubilia” suite. The suite is somewhat oddly sprinkled throughout the album so that part one is heard as the second track on the album, part two as the fourth and the last three parts together conclude the album. An added twist to this is that the last three sections are named in this order: ”Insolubilia V”, ”Insolubilia IV”, and lastly ”Insolubilia III”. Confusing! No doubt deliberately, since Botta, in choosing the title of the album, said that he wanted to offer the listener a mystery. I must admit that I have not yet solved this riddle myself.
The ”Insolubilia” suite contains some of the album’s absolute highlights including vocals by Maria Dename. The music on the album is mostly instrumental, but Dename’s operatic vocals are used to great effect on a few tracks. Finally, the penultimate track on the album, ’Insolubilia IV’, also features vocals with lyrics as Mélanie Gerber from Camembert is allowed to take to the stage. And in English to boot. Her gorgeous, high-pitched and slightly strange singing voice, together with vibraphone and violin, create a truly delightful and sophisticated art music effect. Add Botta’s synthesizers to the mix with the bassoon buzzing in the background and you have a truly stunning modern art song. ”Insolubilia V” is a fine finale to the suite and the album as a whole as it introduces perhaps the most extensive instrumental palette on the album, alternating between delicate chamber sections and more symphonic electro-acoustic prog sections.
Along with the ”Insolubilia” suite, one of the highlights of the album is ”Sudo”, which starts off briskly with the cimbalom and quickly turns into an intense section with several different time signatures, with a spicy side note here and there from a slashing trumpet and richly tuned percussion. ”Akumu”, heard in the middle of the album, is also a fine piece and a veritable keyboard feast as Wobbler’s Fredrik Frøislie’s harpsichord is juxtaposed with Botta’s synthesizers. Add to the mix the extraordinary vocals of Thea Ellingsen Grant and the flutes of Nicolas Nikolopoulos of Ciccada and you have a very nice brew.
Avant-prog is often dark, angular, even grating to listen to, but on Insolubilia Botta has managed to round the corners in a mostly positive way and get the airiness into the sound without compromising on the complexity of the music. I believe Insolubilia is also a very good album to jump into the world of avant-prog for listeners who are used to listening to more traditional symphonic progressive rock.
Insolubilia is definitely one of the bright spots of the 2021 music year. Hopefully the next Ske album won’t have to wait ten years.
Best songs: ’Sudo’, ’Akumu’, ’Insolubilia IV’, ’Insolubilia V’.
Author: JANNE YLIRUUSI
Tracks
- Sudo (3:44)
- Insolubilia I (6:24)
- Tor Cia (1:38)
- Insolubilia II (6:54)
- Lo Stagno del Proverbio (3:07)
- Akumu (6:06)
- La Nona Onda (7:00)
- Scogli 4 (2:46)
- Insolubilia V (6:56)
- Insolubilia IV (3:50)
- Insolubilia III (7:08)
Muusikot
Paolo ”Ske” Botta: organ, electric pianos, synthesizers Fabio Pignatelli (Goblin): bass guitar (9) Luca Calabrese (Isildurs Bane: pocket trumpet (1,5,9,10) Lars Fredrik Frøislie (Wobbler): harpsichord (6,8) Keith Macksoud (Present): bassokitara (11) Tommaso Leddi (Stormy Six): mandolin (1,11) Nicolas Nikolopoulos (Ciccada) – flute (1,4,6,9) Evangelia Kozoni (Ciccada): voice (4) Vitaly Appow (Rational Diet, Five Storey Ensemble): bassoon (2,7,10) Simen Ådnøy Ellingsen (Shamblemaths): saxophones (7) Alessandro Cassani (Not a Good Sign): bass guitar (1,5,7) Martino Malacrida (Not a Good Sign): drums (1,2,4,6,7,9,11) Francesco Zago (Yugen): guitars (1,2,4,6,7,9,11) Maurizio Fasoli (Yugen): keyboards (2,4,5,11) Valerio Cipollone (Yugen): clarinets (2,4,6,8,9,11) Elia Leon Mariani (Yugen): violin (2,4,9,10,11) Jacopo Costa (Loomings, Yugen) – vibraphone, marimba, xylophones, bell piano, cimbalom (1,2,4,5,6,7,9,10,11) Maria Denami (Loomings) – voice (1,6,11) Massimo Giuntoli (Hobo) – organ harmonium (1,9) Pierre Wawrzyniak (Camembert, Oiapok): bass guitar (2,4,6) Mélanie Gerber (Camembert, Oiapok): voice (10) Guillaume Gravelin (Camembert, Oiapok) – harp (2,4,6,11) Pietro Bertoni (FEM) – trombone, euphonium (1,9,11) Thea Ellingsen Grant (Juno) voice (5,6,11) Tiziana Azzone (Il Giardino delle Muse): theorbo (4)
Producer: Paolo Botta
Label: Independent release
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