Moving Fragments by Acqua Fragile, a 2023 album.
Moving Fragments, the latest album by Acqua Fragile, was a real event in the Italian progressive rock scene. Released on 20 October 2023 by Ma.Ra.Cash Records, it is not simply a set of new songs, but the crowning achievement of a fifty-year journey of reunion and artistic rebirth.
To fully understand the birth of Moving Fragments, we need to go back in time. Acqua Fragile were formed in Parma in 1971, standing out right away for choosing to sing entirely in English, echoing British sounds and the American West Coast. After two highly successful albums, Acqua Fragile (1973) and Mass Media Stars (1974), the band was already working on a third record when, in 1975, singer Bernardo Lanzetti received the invitation to join PFM, leading to the group’s breakup.
After more than forty years of separate careers, the spark reignites in 2017. Three historic members, Bernardo Lanzetti, Franz Dondi and Piero Canavera, meet again in the studio and release A New Chant, an unexpected comeback that shows how the chemistry—and the public’s affection for the band from Emilia—had never faded.
If A New Chant marked the return, Moving Fragments aims to establish Acqua Fragile as an active, contemporary act, able to engage with today’s prog-rock. After the reunion, the band went back to playing live, seamlessly adding three new members: Stefano Pantaleoni, Claudio Tuma and Rossella Volta. The strong cohesion born during the concerts pushed the musicians to record unreleased material.
Artistic production was entrusted to Dario Mazzoli, a long-time collaborator of Lanzetti, who had already produced his solo album Horizontal Rain in 2021. Mazzoli managed to give the album a modern, powerful sound, while keeping the group’s vintage soul.
The album tackles current themes, as in the track IA - Artificial Intelligence, confirming the band’s tendency to address social topics, while keeping that theatrical and romantic approach typical of their music.
The lineup consists of six musicians, including historic founding members and new permanent members.
Bernardo Lanzetti (Lead vocals, guitar, Glovox): Founding member of the group in 1971. After the breakup in 1975, he was frontman of PFM (Premiata Forneria Marconi) and later played with Mangala Vallis, as well as pursuing a long solo career.
Franz Dondi (Bass): Historic bassist and pillar of the band since the beginning. In the 2000s he kept the repertoire alive by founding the Acqua Fragile Project.
Piero Canavera (Drums, percussion, backing vocals): The band’s original drummer, back as a steady member since the reunion.
The New Members
Stefano Pantaleoni (Keyboards): Classically trained musician, composition teacher and great fan of the Progressive genre.
Claudio Tuma (Guitars): Rock- and jazz-savvy guitarist, brought into the group to shape the album’s electric and acoustic textures.
Rossella Volta (Lead and backing vocals): Vocalist also coming from Franz Dondi’s Acqua Fragile Project. Her contribution enriches the sound with new harmonies and female vocal counterpoints.
Unlike previous works, Moving Fragments is marked by a strong openness to collaborations of international stature. Among the musicians who contributed to the record stand out David Jackson (Van der Graaf Generator) and Stef Burns (Vasco Rossi’s guitarist), both featured with solo parts.
“Moving Fragments” is an album that manages to blend the legacy of 1970s Italian and British progressive rock with contemporary sound production. The record sits within the Symphonic Progressive Rock genre, enriched by Art-Rock and Jazz-Rock influences.
As for language and vocals, the band keeps the tradition of singing mainly in English, but introduces a stylistic novelty with tracks in Italian, which highlight Bernardo Lanzetti’s theatricality. The arrival of Rossella Volta’s second voice makes it possible to create new vocal interweavings and counterpoints, compared to the works of the ’70s.
From an instrumental standpoint, Stefano Pantaleoni’s keyboards weave broad orchestral beds and technical solos, while avoiding a nostalgic effect. Franz Dondi’s pulsing bass and Claudio Tuma’s versatile guitar, ranging from rock to jazz, support complex rhythmic structures, marked by frequent odd meters and shifts in mood.
“Black Drone” is the highlight and the emblem of the album. It is a suite with dark, suffocating and dramatic tones, perfectly matching the theme of technological control and alienation in the lyrics. Bernardo Lanzetti delivers a theatrical, biting performance, enhanced by the use of the Glovox, an instrument he invented to modulate the voice. The presence of David Jackson of Van der Graaf Generator lifts the track to the highest levels. His unmistakable, majestic saxophone-and-flute interweavings give the track a grandeur and dramatic stamp that recall the greatest moments of world prog rock.
“Moving Fragments” is a truly remarkable album: it keeps the classic prog-rock framework, with its odd meters, layered sounds and that signature theatricality, but with modern production and clean tones that have nothing to do with the most stereotyped prog.
Lanzetti’s voice is the real trademark of Acqua Fragile. Dramatic, operatic and charismatic, it becomes even more distinctive thanks to the innovative use of the Glovox.
The album alternates songs in English and Italian, and this might not please purists, used to a band historically tied to English only. Also, as the title suggests, “Moving Fragments” is made up of short, punchy tracks, interspersed with complex suites. This makes it less immediate on first listen than the masterpieces of the ’70s.
Fifty years after their debut in 1973, Acqua Fragile have shown that progressive rock still has a lot to say in today’s musical landscape. I recommend it not only to nostalgics of the golden years, but to anyone who appreciates refined, sophisticated rock. Enjoy the album!
My Copy
Label: Ma.Ra.Cash Records – MRCLP041
Format: Vinyl, LP, First Press
Country: Italy
Released: 13 Oct 2023
Tracklist
A1 Her Shadowʼs Torture
A2 White Horse On Dope
A3 Moving Fragments
A4 Malo Bravo
A5 I A – Artificial Intelligence
B1 Black Drone
B2 DD Danz
B3 The Sound of the Voice
B4 Limerence Ethereal
Lineup
Bernardo Lanzetti – lead vocals, guitar, Glovox
Stefano Pantaleoni – keyboards
Claudio Tuma – guitars
Rossella Volta – vocals
Franz Dondi – bass
Piero Canavera – drums, percussion, vocals
With
Stef Burns – guitar on "White Horse on Dope"
Brian Belloni – guitar on "Malo Bravo"
Davide Piombino – 7-string guitar on "IA - Intelligenza Artificiale"
David Jackson – saxophone and flute on "Black Drone"
Gigi Cavalli Cocchi – drums on "Her Shadow's Torture" and "Black Drone" (also created the cover art and logo)
Sergio Ponti – drums on "Malo Bravo" and "Limerence Ethereal"
