Sub Pop Records

BIO

Two years after the release of Jennifer Gentle’s critically acclaimed Sub Pop debut Valende, the Italian psychedelic avant-pop explorers are back with The Midnight Room.

Since Valende_’s 2005 release (the first album by an Italian band ever released on Sub Pop), they’ve kept themselves quite busy. In addition to international touring in the US, UK, EU and most recently China, they’ve put out a couple of more experimental releases with the recent _A New Astronomy CD, and last year’s Sacramento Sessions limited-edition LP on the Italian label A Silent Place. As well, US label Empyrean Records has plans for a 2007 re-release of their second album Funny Creatures Lane, and they’ve also been recording the soundtrack for a documentary about legendary British producer Joe Meek.

Other things happened too: drummer Alessio Gastaldello left the band and Jennifer Gentle is now solely the project of founder and songwriter Marco Fasolo. Marco wrote, performed and produced the entire new album alone in his Ectoplasmic Studio, a rambling old house lost in the foggy plains of Northern Italy, infamous for its previous owner’s suicide by rifle.

Maybe it was because of the isolated location or a result of the turmoil he experienced in his own personal life, but Marco’s music has evolved and The Midnight Room is a departure from the band’s trademark sound. While the psychedelic references are still there, they are more oblique than ever. This time the music pulses with a nocturnal, feverish, hallucinatory emotional atmosphere, making for a truly unique aural experience.

Informed by a deep love for American ‘50s rock n’ roll and European musicians like Nino Rota and Kurt Weill, The Midnight Room is by far the most personal Jennifer Gentle…