For those who love music in its entirety, there must be no better feeling than hearing an artist or a band progressing artistically with each passing record. So often, in order to guarantee "record revenues", some of said artists prefer not to choose to push too far their music boundaries, feeling just content to deliver another record to their fans that would match their fanbases' expectations, sacrificing, in this way, inspiration, immediacy and artistic growth.
Rather fortunately though, there are also other type of musicians who love to move forward instead and see their music as a starting point for a journey where music become the locomotive of an invisible train, able to bring them back in time and then back home again, where their signature sound then becomes organically amalgamated with the rhythms and vibes they absorbed during their journey and the experiences they forged, with the end result being a very honest, truly representative and stylistically exciting new expressive vehicle.
This is essentially the same journey that the Blues sensation collective The Cinelli Brothers embarked lately, with an exceptional outcome represented by their brand new record, the fourth of their career, called Almost Exactly..., where the band explored Music on so many levels, with one foot solidly in the Blues and the other firmly shifting between Soul, Southern Rock, Latin, R&B, Funk and Gospel with such effortless ability, showing, at the same time, signs of enormous musicianship all around, throughout the 10 tracks included in this rather magnificent album.
Almost Exactly..., for those readers of a younger age range, is one of the best iintroductions they may possibly dream of two fundamental decades of American Music History like the 60s and 70s, which is rather unusual, if you consider that this multi-ethnic band has Italian roots (band producer and chief composer Marco Cinelli (guitars, vocals and keyboards) and his brother Alessandro on drums), French ones (Stephen Giry (guitars, background vocals) and British too (Tom Julian Jones (harmonica, guitar and vocals).
The Cinelli Brothers' sound is as opulent as it is elegant, on Almost Exactly.... Their vocal harmonies, the individual musicianship shown on each of the album's songs and the carefully constructed musical arrangements are truly symptomatic of a collective able to understand and absorb the influences coming from music pioneers of a bygone era, like Otis Redding, Santana, George Clinton, just to state a few, translating their inspiration in a sound that keeps on evolving, on each of The Cinelli Brothers' records, until becoming a phenomenal artistic statement, like in this case but still maintaining that stylistically impeccable sound that makes the band to be one of the most loved and recognizable musical realities of the contemporary music scene.
One of the main secrets behind the exceptional success of Almost Exactly, perhaps stands on bandleader Marco Cinelli composing the whole record on Hammond organ and/or piano, rather than guitar, as it happens often for many Blues artists. Those composing differences are notably palpable especially on sonic masterpieces such as Dozen Roses, Lucky Star or Don't Need No Favor, where Cinelli's musicianship on piano and Hammond comes to the surface in the most shiniest way imaginable.
Although Marco Cinelli's inspired leadership and strong vocal deliveries are a consolidated fact for each of The Cinelli Brothers' records, let's not forget that the band's new record is a masterclass in overall musicianship, most of all. The album's opener Last Throw Of The Dice, with its highly entertaining shuffle of Blues, Funk and R&B, it's just one of the many wonderful musical moments of Almost Exactly..., where also more dynamic and breathtakingly played arrangements can be found in songs like Prayer, Leave It With You or Making It Through The Night, with Alessandro Cinelli, Julian Jones and Giry in stellar form.
The fact that The Cinelli Brothers are now recognized as a worldwide phenomenon, to our website, it's not a surprise at all. Almost Exactly... is the final stamp on the passport for global stardom for a band that is as inspiring as they love to be inspired by music on each passing record. The Cinelli Brothers, a true force of nature.
Almost Exactly... is out now and it can be purchased via Continental Record Services Official Bandcamp Official Page
