In the spirit of musical justice (as I find is severely lacking these days), I gave this latest CD from Giulia Millanta a good and proper listen and not only did I not hate it, but I actually kind of fell in love with it, and subsequently her in the process. Surprisingly, this gal is ironically based out of Austin, Texas but is clearly a world traveler. Why do I say ironically, I’ll get to that in a second? First the music therein is a bit more Past-Rock than Modern-Rock so it’s not as tacky as I was expecting. Some songs almost break the 6 minute barrier. I can hear influences ranging from Fiona Apple, Tara Maclean, Chantal Kreviazuk, Dar Williams and even Tori Amos. Most of the music is straight up Alternative Rock but much of it contains extended into, outros, long musical segments and much in the way of musical angulations which I love. The lyrics aren’t as annoying or sickly as I thought they would be. Vocals by Millanta flutter around like a butterfly but at times. She commands a powerful tonal registry all the while maintaining impressive finesse and control. Giulia Millanta melds and blends all of the above together in a starkly unique way. The end result? A new sound with an old classic feel. Reading from the words of past reviewers this is the clear consensus. How shall I sum up the sound of Giulia Millanta for you? How about ground breaking? While actually sounding like she’s not so over produced like some of the more modern sounding bands out there like Muse or Oasis, Millanta manages to capture a sound that is old yet surprisingly fresh all at the same time like Pink and Gwen Stefani. There are legions of fans waiting for this. Many of these retro tracks sounding surprisingly innovative, which makes up for their somewhat dated influences. From track 1-3 the album turns decidedly upwards and serves up 14 tracks in all. All songs will get your blood pumping. My favorite songs are the extended play ones. The first three tracks (Ma Voix), (Lost in Space) and (II Grande Fratello) hit hard. My favorite track is probably a toss-up between (How Does God Sleep at Night), (Ode to the Breakup) and epic (Carry the Cross). All songs are like vivid bursts of energy. The Musicianship from all involved is World Class and the productions strokes are Professional grade. In conclusion there are 3 things I really like about “The Funambulist “. For one I didn’t want to shoot myself with my pen like I do with most bands from Texas lately. No worries there. Two: this CD may be the most impressionable, artsy, magical and artistic CD’s I’ve heard this year. Third: Giulia Millanta and her production team has the courage to write and play music the way she want to, the way it was meant to. A far cry from the “sell out” corporate puppet show bands the masses are scratching their heads at. Whereas 90% of the bands could care less about this approach as they just want to make labels happy. This is one of the most important attributes for me when reviewing music. This CD by Giulia Millanta has no weaknesses and is exactly as the title says: “More Human Than God.” It’s amazing! She’s amazing! What more can I say?
URL: http://www.giuliamillanta.com
Buy on I-TUNES – http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/giulia-millanta/id412442017
By Derek Prunier
