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Molinari, Fernando: Reaching Inside

If you’re like me, discovering new music is exciting, exhilarating, and rewarding! I can’t tell you how many times I hear “there’s no good music anymore”. You have got to be kidding, there are great bands/artists out there creating. Brazilian bassist Fernando Molinari’s latest Reaching Inside is a wonderful piece of modern fusion, and had I known about this one prior to making my best of 2021 list, it would be on it.

Molinari has assembled a great group of players to showcase his musical vision. Drummer Marco Minnemann appears on 6 of the 8 tracks here and creates a powerful rhythm section. “Focus” opens the disc, a very melodic piece featuring the guitar work of Davi Filho, who also co-wrote this and a few others with Molinari. “Mercurio” gets heavy and intricate, but again I find a lot of melody, it’s not just showboating here, excellent songs. Filho also shows a speedier side to his playing in this track. The intro to “Hidden” has a King Crimson feel, and then suddenly becomes more atmospheric and spacey, with more tasty guitar work from Filho. I love the keyboard and bass interplay that opens “Internal Sun”, and the amazing guitar playing of Kit Tang. “Desert Flower” provides good contrast to the previous four tracks, with its Spanish flavor and use of acoustic guitar (Brunno Henrique) and piano (Daniel Felix). But, don’t think for a second that means mellow, drummer Arthur Rezende and Molinari blend nicely creating a complex foundation that drives the track. Molinari throws some monster runs and slapping during “Ocean Wind”. This one gets a little dark sounding, but again I am shaking my head, these guys are good, with Henrique providing more amazing playing. “Maybe Tomorrow” is about as laid back as it gets, but this one sticks with me, I love the clean guitar lines and melodic bass of Molinari. As we get to the last track, I can tell you Molinari is batting 7 for 7, and “Control” is a home run. They go out with a bang, funky, rocking, and intricate; there is a touch of metal when the keys and guitar start trading licks. This is how you end a CD, blowing people’s heads off.

The musicianship is top notch, and you get some amazing passages from all the instruments, but the songs connect. Well written and well played makes for a winning combination. I was so blown away, I went out and bought Molinari’s previous release from 2016. Yes, it’s great to grab those Return to Forever discs and give them a spin, but give these new artists a chance and you will see there is a load of talent out there.


Track Listing
1. Focus 05:24
2. Mercurio 04:38
3. Hidden 04:46
4. Internal Sun 05:12
5. Desert Flower 04:46
6. Ocean Wind 03:59
7. Maybe Tomorrow 02:25
8. Control 04:27

Added: January 8th 2022
Reviewer: Eric Porter
Score:
Related Link: Artists @ Bandcamp
Hits: 1223
Language: english

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