Maria Monti – Il Bestiario

Maria Monti, a talented Italian folk singer and actor who appeared in films by Bernardo Bertolucci and Sergio Leone, was backed by some incredible talent on her fifth album Il Bestiario. To name just a few, there’s legendary avant-garde composer Alvin Curran on synthesizers and composition, jazz legend Steve Lacy on soprano saxophone, and lyricist Aldo Braibanti, an anti-fascist poet whose words expressed Italy’s tumultuous political history and was imprisoned by the ever watchful right wing Italian government before the release of this album. The album is a high point in the inventive history of music being created in Italy in the 1970s. Monti’s vocals dance from free form cabaret to achingly beautiful meditations while the talented ensemble of musicians create pastoral yet forward thinking electro-acoustic arrangements.

– Cole Kinnear

Recommended – A1 Il Pavone, A6 L’uomo, B1 La Pecora Crede Di Essere Un Cavallo, B2 Il Letargo