Review Summary: The album starts. Then it ends.
It would be fair to assume that there was only one individual behind the making of
Forme complesse. This isn’t due to the tonality of the instrumentation, which can often be a dead ringer for a drum machine, and nor is it because of a robotic linearity that permeates the individual performances. There isn’t a flamboyant showman doing their best Brandon Flowers impression and sucking the air out of the room. There isn’t a technically gifted guitarist writing solos whenever most inconceivable. Rather, the contributions of all the members used to construct the album in question are so miniscule that they might as well have never been present, as the sum of their impact quickly approaches null within the first minute. As surprising as it may be, Italian group Fine Before You Came are, in fact, a collection of people, not AI programs; five different personalities were involved in this project. In an effort to craft an experience that relishes in a melancholic mood, the cluster relied heavily upon restraint, limiting themselves in every regard to best serve their desired atmosphere. Such an unwavering commitment, while admirable, ultimately leads to a key fault: the emotional payoff intended by the lyricism lacks the necessary punch. When supported by songwriting that never switches its formula—prepare for slow-tempo strumming until the end of time—the unfortunate absence of personal resonance causes the entirety of the novel disc to blend together in an indistinguishable mass.
Embarking upon a minimalist path is perfectly acceptable if the execution is there. If an aesthetic is strong in of itself, it can very well carry the burden of a record ordinarily unassuming in its contents. Suffice to say,
Forme complesse has nothing special to offer, and by all accounts, they never attempt to extend their already narrow reach. Blink at any point during the brief runtime (or whatever the aural equivalent is) and the LP has already come and gone; at no point do the tracks make an effort to distinguish themselves from one another. Twangy, reverb laden-laden strumming announces introductory number “Gittana,” leisurely moving forward in the same series of chord progressions, refusing to ever surprise the audience. The vocals eventually enter to imbue an emotional tinge to proceedings, yet the inflection predictably is as static as everything else around it. Then, without much fanfare, the drumming decides to contribute, its role subdued to simply delicate cymbal tapping in the background—an action rendered rather pointless in a production that cloaks the kit behind aimless thrumming. It’s not an exaggeration to say this exact template is copied for the following “Acquaghiaccia,” and it endures without pause until the bare minimum is altered in “Interludio con vento” and the subsequent concluding tune. An indie riff creeps into the scene, seemingly lacking structure as it wanders about a hazy environment, never embarking upon a crescendo, tempo alteration, or anything else that would be evidence of a pulse. Determining what, if anything, the title track does differently compared to preceding works is an incredible difficult endeavor, causing an apparently short album to become a monolithic task to undertake.
The arrangements are painfully averse to diverging from the norm that’s established so quickly. Whatever the aforementioned aesthetic
could accomplish is therefore moot, as the songwriting actively hinders it by not crafting emotional instances. Unbending singing utterances, time signatures, and directionless riffs leave the atmosphere to be nothing but a nondescript, hazy landscape that has been used far more effectively elsewhere. Once Fine Before You Came enter a provided number, they are dedicated to maintain the status quo; any progression that is created is miniscule enough to be more of an accident than a genuine attempt to inject life into the music. It takes far too long for the collective to realize that their sound lacks a factor that would prompt a return trip, though the result is still poor at best. The ambient noise that “Intorno” toys with has potential, but the group’s compositional weaknesses cripple it. For one, the lax formation of each entry causes whatever the band’s end goal is to become obscured, with tunes trudging along uncertainly, bereft of purpose outside of perhaps repeating a tired refrain ad nauseum. Consequentially, there is nothing memorable about “Intorno” that ensures it will linger in the mind of a listener, since the vocals continue their dry routine and fellow members sleepwalk per usual. Regardless of the attention paid to the record in question, it’s a grim prospect to discuss the engaging traits that could be perceived—they were likely never there to begin with, unsurprisingly.
Imbedded into the lyricism is a sense of pensiveness that would have served the album greatly. However, for all intents and purposes, the prose that is utilized for
Forme complesse fails to shine through. Quite nearly everything that could possibly work in opposition to it does just that, impaling the heart of the disc. An inexcusable absence of growth condemns Fine Before You Came’s newest creation to the fathoms of bandcamp, damned to rest below the surface of peers that mimic the idea of emotional resonance without dissecting the reasoning behind
why it succeeds. By constructing a series of similar, unexciting indie notes and cranking up the static, an atmosphere isn’t necessarily made; it must be vigorously pursued to nail it down. Otherwise, a more gazey production has the tendency to float away, the associated arrangements becoming so airy that nothing fascinating ties them to the listener. An aesthetic won’t arrive on its own if there’s no commitment by the band to develop it. Such is the fatal flaw afflicting Fine Before You Came: not a shred of what occurs during this experience comes across as genuine. Commitment is an alien vocabulary term when listening to the same formula repeat perpetually, discovering in a shock that the media player has not malfunctioned and begun playing songs on loop.
