OU – Scrambled!

Ou—a Rome-based Sardinian sextet—sound like no other group. Scrambled! is their second release, a set of music written by Ersilia Prosperi, the group’s trumpeter/flugelhornist/ukulele player. The nine songs, sung by Martina Fadda with the assistance of the others, are an uncategorizable collection of cheerfully skewed post-art songs in a babble of languages—Sardinian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, English and Pygmy, several of them often occurring in the same song. The arrangements are colorful, the rhythms delightfully off-center, and the logic dreamlike.

Hmmm…when’s the last time you heard music made by a band in Sardinia? This just might be the first time we’ve heard from a group on the rarely discussed island in the Mediterranean Sea. Because the band OU (which means egg in Sardinian) is from an unlikely place, we shouldn’t be too surprised to find that the music is rather unusual. According to the press release that accompanied this album, this seven piece group “blurs the boundaries between jazz, world music, irony, ferocity and tenderness.” To make things even more peculiar, the songs are sung in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, and Pygmy (??!!). With all of these things considered, the compositions on Scrambled! are actually much smoother and accessible than you might guess. More than any other group, the music of OU reminds us in some ways of the ultra obscure band Henry Cow from the 1970s.

Scrambled is right! Here Disaster Amnesiac was, having figured myself used to the Noise and extremely Avant-Garde offerings being sent over from Public Eyesore, and then this one arrives! Not that Disaster Amnesiac is complaining….far from it. Think about it this way: you’ve been served several odd elixers, thick with strange, otherworldly, unnamed tastes, and then a snifter of the finest, smoothest cognac arrives, along with the best of Cuban cigars, and you’re asked to partake of them both. This is one of the feeling that I’ve had as Scrambled! has massaged my ear drums, in regard to previous Public Eyesore releases that I’ve heard. Seriously, my perceptions about it all have indeed been scrambled!

It’s just as true today as it was when I first interviewed/reviewed Amy Denio (way back, in issue # 20)… anything she applies her musical talent to just SHINES! When I got to meet & review this great musical group from Italy (issue # 143), it only took a few bars to realize that she had picked another total winner to produce & tour with! The range of the music on this new release is, quite simply, astounding… all the way from the walking bass & vocal on the 7:27 closer, “Jengi“, to the superb rhythmic adventures on “Destiny Sneezed“, it’s total fun – without the considerable weight of a bunch of unnecessary “political overtones”. If you get no other music this year – GET this one!

I happen to live in the same part of Seattle as Amy Denio, so we bump into each other from time to time. Not long ago, we happened to see each other at the local record store, where a mutual friend’s band was doing a CD release party. She reached into her purse and brought out a CD for me. It’s an Italian band she’s been working with for a number of years, Ou, whose name means “egg” in the Sardinian dialect. Amy’s pretty reliable, so I was reasonably sure it would be worth hearing – man, was that an understatement! Scrambled! is thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, and engaging amalgam of more styles and influences than I can enumerate in concise review. At the core, you could say it’s a kind of gypsy jazz, and elements of avant-rock, cabaret, and more are melded seamlessly into something that is both entertaining and intellectually stimulating.

Nel mondo cosmopolita degli OU convivono varie lingue in uno spirito di pacificata armonia. I colori però sono a predominanza mediterranea, pervasi di una luce calda e intensa che diffonde un senso di vago stordimento e un’inebriante leggerezza, come in un qualche gran bazar avvolto da aromi di spezie frutti maturi…

È La prima volta che assisto ad una loro performance e la serata sembra quella giusta. Loro sono gli Ou(uovo in lingua sarda) un sestetto sardo/italiano che grazie alle meraviglie compositive della trombettista – ukulelista Ersilia Prosperi e alla bravura dei singoli musicisti che è riuscito ad entrare nella Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame e catturare l’attenzione della polistrumentista Amy Denio la quale ha prodotto il loro secondo disco: Scrambled. Introdotto da una breve parentesi di improvvisazione vocale della Denio, la perfomance dell’uovo ha letteralmente scaldato i tanti presenti. Il Sarcasmo e le illustrazioni fantastiche della voce e dello strumento di Ersilia..

The latest recording from OU (featuring Seattle avant-gardist Amy Denio as both a member and producer), is a bit like painting an omelet. Based in Rome, OU (LIT., “Egg” in Sardinian) is an energetic and exciting sextet that lives – thrives, actually – at the intersection of jazz, pop, and the avant-garde. It’s music solidly rooted in composed forms and patterns but equally at home in improvisation; music that grooves, but not too predictably. Led by adept vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Ersilia Prosperi, OU seems defined more by spirit than style – The kind of group that could play a jazz or punk festival but probably wouldn’t fit in entirely at either ..

Il secondo album degli Ou trasforma in un certo senso l’eclettismo musicale del gruppo in qualcosa di più compatto, senza però lasciare da parte il colto parlare in lingue: musicali e non – anche qui ci si dedica alla pratica del poliglottismo …un pop in opposition che oscilla tra malinconie wyattiane e pastiche ludici …

This month highlights vocalists who are catalytic, whether inspiring ensemble unions, reimagining interpretations or sparking their ensembles’ energy. Let’s start with the indescribably fun, free and expansive sounds of trumpeter/ukulele player Ersilia Prosperi’s Sardinian/Italian sextet “OU” (egg in Sardinian dialect); in their second recording Scrambled(Spoot-Public Eyesore) lead vocalist Martina Fadda’s stunning voice is front, center and thread within the fission of the Rome-based band’s energy, often

Sperimentazione, improvvisazione e ragionata anarchia di suoni, in questo risiede la forza della band OU (uovo in lingua sarda) fondata dalla trombettista jazz Ersilia Prosperi. Dopo due lunghi tour negli USA, presentano ora il loro nuovo progetto Scrambled, prodotto da Amy Denio, polistrumentista d’eccezione. A circa un anno e mezzo di distanza dal primo, e dopo due lunghi tour negli Stati Uniti con tappa a New York la scorsa primavera, esce il secondo album degli OU, nome che in sardo significa “uovo”, dell’eclettica band fondata da Ersilia Prosperi, trombettista jazz e non solo. Ed è Scrambledil titolo di un progetto discografico che si rivela già dal primo ascolto un affresco venato di eccentricità e feroce ironia. Sperimentazione, improvvisazione e ragionata anarchia di suoni.

Una nuova e buona frittata musicale viene offerta dai romani OU (“uovo” in dialetto sardo). La band, che già si era fatta notare nel 2014 con l’album d’esordio “Pisces Crisis”, torna con un ennesimo disco di contaminazione tra jazz, avant pop, brass music, brasiliana tropicalista, sperimentazione e tanta energia. L’ensemble è composto da elementi sardi e romani, un mix di regioni italiane che ha fatto innamorare la statunitense Amy Denio che ha un autentico culto per la nostra nazione. Come il precedente disco anche questo infatti viene dato alle stampe dalla sua label Spoot Music, ma non solo. Infatti l’artista è presente anche come ospite in alcuni episodi inserendo ulteriormente il suo cantato, sempre sopra le righe, ad esempio nella cinematografica “Gallone Bocca Larga” che rimanda ai film in cui sono protagonisti Monica Vitti e Alberto Sordi, primo fra tutti “Polvere di Stelle”…

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