You do not need to know a word of Italian to be able to grasp the hypnotic quality of this composition from Massimo De Simone. A shapeshifting, compelling journey through a litany of musical realms that never for one moment ceases to be perfectly arresting.
An artist based in the Italian capital Rome, Massimo De Simone’s ‘Quasar Viola’ is as engaging and as grandiose as the city it hails from. A total genre breaker, ‘Quasar Viole’ is an operatic piece of chamber and art pop that changes colors with extreme ease and fluidity heightening a sense of indelible drama on the whole composition. Indeed, defined by an introductory vocal melodic motif that can not be maintained within the boundary of a familiar sounding scale, the piece has alternation and movement written into its very heart, like a scene that progresses in a European high fantasy aria from the Middle Ages, brought to crisp modernity.
The wonderful production does an amazing job handling the timpani bangs, the graceful grand piano, the heaving string arrangement, and the handful of different vocal characters in a state of call and response. Every element is exactly where it belongs in the piece’s rich and colorful mix. ‘Quasar Viola’ has a whimsical, dreamlike charm that ought to belong in a far more nuanced musical narrating an epic story. But we are nonetheless glad to have it in its current format, as an underappreciated gem of a piece that only needs a chance to be heard.