Jennifer Gentle
Formed out of the ether of teenage experiments with recreational drug trips and psychedelic jam sessions, Italian band Jennifer Gentle tamed their wild beginnings into beautifully warped orchestral pop. Throughout the aughts the band released four albums of their always morphing sounds, channeling Syd Barret levels of pop mania on their 2005 Sub Pop album Valende.
Formed in 1999 in Padua, Jennifer Gentle originally formed as a duo, with 19-year-old Marco Fasolo as vocalist/guitarist and Alessio Gastaldello on drums. The band later expanded to a four-piece with multi-instrumentalist Isacco Maretto and bassist Nicola. With an ear for playful psych humor as well as more epic zoned and stoned space rock, the band won initial attention thanks to a variety of live appearances, notably as the opening act for Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley's side project, Two Dollar Guitar. The band's recording debut came courtesy of a track on 2000's Homesleep Home compilation, alongside such fellow travelers as Quickspace and the Notwist. 2001 brought the group's first full album, I Am You Are, winning the group further attention at home and, increasingly, overseas. A second album, Funky Creatures Lane, and more accolades followed in 2002, as did Wrong Cage, a collaboration with Makoto Kawabata of Acid Mothers Temple. The following year a double-CD of Jennifer Gentle's first two albums, Ectoplasmic Garden Party, was released by the Australian label Lexicon Devil. The year 2004 saw the band sign with the U.S. label Sub Pop, which released their third full-length, Valende, in 2005. After an extensive international tour in 2006, they put out two experimental releases, a limited-edition Sacramento Sessions LP and A New Astronomy on the Italian label A Silent Pace. After the departure of drummer Alessio Gastaldello, Fasolo left to record The Midnight Room alone in his Ectoplasmic Studio. This album marked a slight departure from the band's previous sound into more psychedelic and personal territory. Around that time Fasolo stepped away from the band to focus more on producing other artists. It would be more than a decade before Jennifer Gentle re-emerged with a self-titled album in 2019.
© Ned Raggett /TiVo
Discography
9 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Funny Creatures Lane
Rock - Released by Bomba Dischi on 27 Feb 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jennifer Gentle
Alternative & Indie - Released by La Tempesta International on 4 Oct 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hey (Single)
Alternative & Indie - Released by 2020 Anniversary on 15 Jan 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Midnight Room (Album)
Rock - Released by Sub Pop Records on 19 Jun 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Wrong Cage (Live)
Jennifer Gentle, Kawabata Makoto
Rock - Released by La Tempesta Dischi on 20 Dec 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A New Astronomy
Rock - Released by La Tempesta International on 1 Apr 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Guilty
Alternative & Indie - Released by La Tempesta International on 30 Aug 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo