Ofelia Dorme - All Harm Ends Here LP

Hear The Track Here

My life seems to be full of Italians right now, and as if to prove the point, here's Ofelia Dorme back for more. Ofelia whosit??? I first met this Italian band when I reviewed their Sometimes Its Better To Wait EP (July 2009) and absolutely loved it to bits, in fact it got a Must Have rating and it became of one my Tracks Of The Year 2009, and I don't give those away freely. As much as I liked the musical side of the band, the real clincher for me was their female singer, Francesa Bono (Ed: oh there's a surprise...NOT). As you know, I have a thing about female singers and Francesa has exactly the kind of voice that melts my hard heart. She popped into my inbox this month with an eleven track album from Ofelia Dorme (she also sings with Let Her Dive which is why I make the distinction) and lo, one happy bunny reviewer.

Ofelia Dorme are Francesca Bono, Gianluca Modica, Tato Izzia and Michele Postpischl who hail from Bologna, Italy and the reason why I raved about their first EP is exactly the same reason I find All Harm Ends Here so listenable. Ofelia Dorme delight in being different, I find them absolutely impossible to categorise because their music is a blend of almost everything from post punk to out and out experimental and if you think I'm joking listen to Paranoid Park and Ian in that order and tell me I'm wrong. One of my all time favourite female vocalists (this may come as a surprise) is Siouxsie Sue and Ian (the track) reeks of her influence. Whether that is intentional or not, I have no idea but what I do know is that I LOVE this track; all five minutes and change of it. By time Grow! starts sprouting on you, I have no doubt you will be as hooked on this band as I am. There is a musical freshness and vitality about their music that I just don't hear in any of the current crop of UK bands, and this is something I have commented on before.

Musically this is some of the richest music I've heard this year, this band pack more into each minute than most bands do in a whole track and inventive as all get-out into the bargain. OK, the proviso is that you would have to like music that is challenging (ie not verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus etc), and that takes chances with ensuring that the listener is pushed to respond. Here is an album where each and every track is like a piece of clockwork, intricate, detailed and as wide as an ocean. Hearing this, it really ticks me off that I never caught the band live the last times they have played in London, but after living with this album I am not going to make that mistake again. If I thought that the Better To Wait EP was the dogs danglies, this is some awesome power way above that. Hand on heart, there isn't a track on this album that doesn't deserve absolutely to be there and its an indication of the strength of the band at how tight and professional it all sounds. Unsigned music doesn't get much better than this and that's for sure. Don't, however, take my word for it, I strongly urge you to check this band out if great music rouses your soul...

MUST HAVE (nothing else like it) awesomeness.