Jennifer Gentle
ABOUT
Jennifer Gentle was formed by Marco Fasolo and Alessio Gastaldello in early 2000, after the breakup of Marco’s previous band, Carcers. Later, these two young men teamed up with guitarist Isacco Maretto and bassist Nick Crivellari, which would complete the early stage of this Northern Italian rock group. Jennifer Gentle imitated the influence of 60s psychedelic rock icon Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd), and recorded their first album I Am You Are in their own basement (Silly Boy Entertainment 2001). However, it wasn’t until their second basement-recording, Funny Creatures Lane (2002), that they began to gain attention from radio stations across the US and Britain. They began touring with Acid Mothers Temple’s Kawabata Makoto and cut a session with WFMU, releasing the tour on a live album, The Wrong Cage in 2002. When Crivellari left Jennifer Gentle, Paolo Mioni (guitar), Liviano Mos (keyboards) and Francesco Candura of Rivulets (bass) were welcomed into the band as live stage members. In February 2004, Jennifer Gentle became the first Italian band to be signed to Sub Pop records. They released their third studio album, Valende, which was recorded in the same basement on the outskirts of Padova, Italy, in 2004. Marco and Alessio are responsible for all instrumentation and vocals on their albums. This Italian duo is known to have incorporated instruments such as kazoos, cow bells, toy glockenspiel, bowed guitars, old Bontempi air organs, plastic flutes, chains and clocks, and deflating balloons ("I Do Dream You", Valende).
In 2007, the band released the much darker and convoluted The Midnight Room (described in a 4-star Mojo review as “Syd Barrett lost in a 20’s Berlin cabaret”).
After 2008, Marco Fasolo preferred to concentrate on production and soundtrack work. He came back in 2013 with the Universal Daughters’ album Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me, a beautifully heart-breaking charity project involving collaborations with singers like Jarvis Cocker, Alan Vega, Gavin Friday, Chris Robinson, Ed Harcourt and many more.
In 2018, together with Liam Watson (White Stripes, Thee Headcoats etc.), Fasolo produced at Toe Rag Studio in London the first album by Turkish musician Umut Adan, later released to glowing reviews by UK label Riverboat Records. Also in 2018 Fasolo arranged and produced the first album by I Hate My Village, an Italian supergroup whose psychedelic take on Afro-funk has become a hugely successful live attraction: he later joined the band as a permanent member.
In 2019 and Marco Fasolo and Jennifer Gentle came officially back with their new, self-titled album. Immaculately produced by Fasolo himself, it’s a sprawling, full-bodied release touching all of Fasolo’s musical obsessions: it effortlessly bounces from ebullient soul glam, goofy funk, intricate baroque ballads, Joe Meek-like instrumentals and the trademark JG zippy psychedelia, without ever losing its focus on mood and detailed song construction.
By far their most complete and accessible album, Jennifer Gentle is above all an immersive listening experience and new evidence of Fasolo’s songwriting, arranging and producing unique abilities: a sometimes pensive, sometimes joyful musical parade to be absorbed as a whole.
In 2007, the band released the much darker and convoluted The Midnight Room (described in a 4-star Mojo review as “Syd Barrett lost in a 20’s Berlin cabaret”).
After 2008, Marco Fasolo preferred to concentrate on production and soundtrack work. He came back in 2013 with the Universal Daughters’ album Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me, a beautifully heart-breaking charity project involving collaborations with singers like Jarvis Cocker, Alan Vega, Gavin Friday, Chris Robinson, Ed Harcourt and many more.
In 2018, together with Liam Watson (White Stripes, Thee Headcoats etc.), Fasolo produced at Toe Rag Studio in London the first album by Turkish musician Umut Adan, later released to glowing reviews by UK label Riverboat Records. Also in 2018 Fasolo arranged and produced the first album by I Hate My Village, an Italian supergroup whose psychedelic take on Afro-funk has become a hugely successful live attraction: he later joined the band as a permanent member.
In 2019 and Marco Fasolo and Jennifer Gentle came officially back with their new, self-titled album. Immaculately produced by Fasolo himself, it’s a sprawling, full-bodied release touching all of Fasolo’s musical obsessions: it effortlessly bounces from ebullient soul glam, goofy funk, intricate baroque ballads, Joe Meek-like instrumentals and the trademark JG zippy psychedelia, without ever losing its focus on mood and detailed song construction.
By far their most complete and accessible album, Jennifer Gentle is above all an immersive listening experience and new evidence of Fasolo’s songwriting, arranging and producing unique abilities: a sometimes pensive, sometimes joyful musical parade to be absorbed as a whole.
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