Short Reviews [Sterbus - 2025 - "Black and Gold"]

Here is the latest album from Sterbus, an Italian band based around multi-instrumentalists and singers Emanuele Sterbini and Dominique D'Avanzo along with associated guests who are used on different tracks depending on the need. The last album I reviewed by these guys was ‘Real Estate/Fake Inferno’ which was their homage to Cardiacs, and this is very different indeed. If I was to try and describe it then I would guess it would be psychedelia mixed with art rock and ‘Sgt Pepper’-era Beatles, and that nothing on the album was written or recorded after 1972. Okay, so that is obviously not right, but that is exactly how the music makes me feel. Strangely, this album also deals with mental illness, the second time I have reviewed a concept album with that topic this week, but whereas The Reticent are dealing with depression from a very personal viewpoint, here we are looking at the story of Virginia Wolfe who suffered from the time she was a teenager (today’s experts believe she had bipolar disorder). This feels much lighter in its approach, at times drifting happily into folk prog, and at others into crossover, with melody and thoughtfulness at the heart of the story. There is a great deal of space here, and the pace can be quite languid as we drift along with none of the urgency and desperation prevalent in ‘Please’. Consequently this is actually a much easier album to listen to and enjoy. The lyrics are important to the story, and I am glad the decision was made to perform in English as it allows for a much wider appreciation of the work. It feels like a very mature album, and although it was somewhat unexpected given how different this to the other release of theirs I have heard, it is incredibly enjoyable. There is a lot to take in, and the more it is played the more there is to be discovered, yet it is also immediate, and it scream “class” from beginning to end. Yet again, Emanuele Sterbini and Dominique D'Avanzo have collaborated to produce a very enjoyable album indeed – I am so glad they changed their mind about only doing an EP and instead gave us 11 tracks as this is a delight.