Armonite is an instrumental rock musical collective from

Pavia, Italy Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

. Their debut record, ''The Sun Is New Each Day'' was produced at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

and released in 2016. It features Porcupine Tree bassist

Colin Edwin Colin Edwin is an Australian musician, specialising in fretted and fretless guitar, fretless bass guitar, double bass and Sintir, guimbri. Edwin first came to public attention as a member of the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, i ...

. In 2018,

Cleopatra Records Cleopatra Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1992 by Brian Perera. The record label has since grown into a family of labels, including Hypnotic Records, Purple Pyramid Records, Dea ...

released their new album, ''And the Stars Above''. They are also noted for their soundtrack covers.

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

called the band, ''"compelling, captivating, and worth exploring."''

Career

Armonite formed in 1996 when its members where still in college. In 1999 they released their first record and soon after broke up. In 2015, the bands founding members, Paolo Fosso and Jacopo Bigi came back together to record ''The Sun Is New Each Day'' with

and Jasper Barendregt. They hired producer Paul Reeve, known for his work with

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

Steve Harley Steve Harley (born Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice; 27 February 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as frontman of the rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still tours, albeit with frequent and significant personnel changes. Ea ...

and The Beta Band. The record was mastered at

in London. With the track 'Blue Curaçao', Armonite have been awarded an Honorable Mention both in the Instrumental and Performance categories at the International Songwriting Competition 2017 from a committee including

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

Lorde Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), known professionally as Lorde ( ), is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. Taking inspiration from aristocracy for her stage name, she is known for her unconventional musical styles and i ...

, Bastille, Billy Cobham, Ziggy Marley, Don Omar, and Keane. On May 25, 2018, Cleopatra Records released Armonite's new album, ''And the Stars Above'', which has been presented in Japan.

Critical reception

Armonite received generally positive reviews. The Big Takeover went so far as to call their work, ''"A creation almost unlike anything else being made today."'' The

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was foun ...

compared Armonite to a musical kaleidoscope, as if ''"

Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...

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, and Canada's

Rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

got together for a jam session."'' music-news.com called the band ''"an exciting and moving piece of creative, collaborative art,"'' while Vents magazine defined them as captivating and disturbing: ''"like many cases of madness, the brilliance is evident."'' Following ''And the Stars above'' release, Prog (magazine) wrote ''"An album to be proud of."'' Heathen Harvest also sang the bands praises, claiming, ''"While I’m not sure it would be quite fair to lump Armonite in under the same canon as Premiata Forneria Marconi and their ilk, there’s a similar sense of adventurousness in their sound that you seldom hear in modern prog anymore."''

Discography

* ''The Sun Is New Each Day'' * ''And the Stars above''

References

{{Authority control Italian progressive rock groups Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups disestablished in 1999 Musical groups established in 2015 1996 establishments in Italy