Memory's Fool

Chronique

An alias of indie singer/songwriter Daniel Colussi, who previously played in the Shilohs and recorded his own rawer, '60s garage rock-inclined material as the Pinc Lincolns, Fortunato Durutti Marinetti debuted in 2020 with Desire, a set of songwriter psych-folk that drew on classic folk-rock and Lou Reed while flirting with Baroque pop. The follow-up, Memory's Fool, shifts into '70s singer/songwriter inspirations, among them Joni Mitchell and Robert Wyatt as well as Reed, with more-rambling results that even border on ambient folk on occasion. Of its seven tracks, six of them are over six minutes in length and comprise variations on stripped-down ruminations. "All Roads" opens the album with a rumble of thunder, gentle acoustic guitar, and the lines, "I lost track of the information/The directions to where I'm heading/It must be just waiting/Somewhere for me find." As he continues to think aloud in sing-talking fashion over a repeated chord pattern, components like light drums, strings, piano, measure-marking bass, and backing vocals (by Hello, Blue Roses' Syndey Hermant) join in. About two-thirds of the way through the track, Marinetti repeats the words "where I'm heading" for a final time and gives way to two minutes of string drones. Listeners are in for a meditative continuation, as much of the set list follows a similar formula, although he slightly varies tempos and arrangements (the band here includes Jay Arner and Sandro Perri, among others), like on the almost funky "Everything Is Right Here," the organ-accompanied "I Would Smile," and the strings-heavy "Feels Like." However, Memory's Fool's intention is to hypnotize, not dazzle, as it closes on the dreamy, over-nine-minute-long "I Declare," whose enveloping, rocking-chair piano arpeggios, frothy synth interjections, and spectral vocal delay mesmerize in tandem with warm sentiments like, "If you were here with me/If you were here/It could be so fine." Release note: The album does not include the promotional single "Memory's Fool."
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo