Mellow Mood Announce New Album LARGE Out 4/6
By: Macon Prickett Mar. 20, 2018
Italian reggae band Mellow Mood first started while Jacopo, Lorenzo and Giulio were in high school in their home town of Pordenone (North-East Italy). Over the years, the band has had many versions, but the trio always remained. They are set to release their fifth album Large on April 6 via LA TEMPESTA DUB. Mellow Mood is led by identical twin brothers, Jacopo and Lorenzo Garzia, along with Filippo Buresta (keyboards), Antonio M. Cicci (drums), Giulio Frausin (bass, backing vocals, guitar, percussions).
Mellow Mood exploded on the scene with their debut album Move! in 2009. The album was self-released without a distribution deal and formal press agency support. It was intended to be the bands first "move" on the Italian reggae scene, but instead garnered international recognition and critical acclaim. Thanks to their heartfelt live shows, the legendary festival Rototom Sunsplash which named Mellow Mood best Italian reggae band, and ranked them third in the European reggae. The debut album, Move! was the first time they worked with producer Paolo Baldini, who would later became the band's sound architect and dubmaster. Their debut singles "Only You" and "Dance Inna Babylon" has seen viral success with more than fifty million views on YouTube.For Mellow Mood's second album, the band went back into the studio to record "Well Well Well" and landed a record deal with the influential record label, La Tempesta, in 2012. Sailing through new-roots, rocksteady and tribal clubbing, Mellow Mood proved to be the fastest rising stars of a new generation of reggae artists hailing from all over the world. With the release of singles "Dig Dig Dig" and "Extra Love" featuring Tanya Stephens, in advanced of their third album "Twinz" (2014), the band found themselves going back to a more scaled down line-up and dropping the horn section. Less than 10 months later, Twinz revealed its twin, 2 The World. The new album beard witness to the band's continuing evolution and growth, and featured several Jamaican artists including Tanya Stephens, Jah9, Hempress Sativa, and The Gideon & Selah.
Although Mellow Mood doesn't sing strictly Rastafarian lyrics, their music is consistently conscious and positive. Stand out tracks like "Call Back The Love", "Tuff Rocky Road" and "Another Day" call on the listeners to open their hearts and embrace life with a positive attitude despite the inevitable difficulties. While, "Daddy" welcomes guidance from elders, relatives and parents, and "Sound Of A War, "It Can't Work" takes a stand by pushing back on misinformation, fake news and delusional politics. "String Up A Sound" dips into the realm of Afro-beat and features a sample taken from Sierra Leone's Refugees All Stars' repertoire to praise the power of music as universal healing. "Ms. Mary" is a particularly rude landlord scorning reggae music and levity, and "Heart To No One" is a painful breakup followed by "Eye Waata," the temptation to dwell in self-pity. For Mellow Mood, music and spiritual awareness remain the "greatest weapons" to overcome tough times and keep walking on the right path as heard on "Place Called Home".
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