Something happened between 2005's Valende and The Midnight Room: Jennifer Gentle went from Italian psych avant-pop duo to solo act. Drummer Alessio Gastaldello left the band, leaving the project entirely in the hands of founder and songwriter Marco Fasolo. So far, it's for the best. The Midnight Room is not only more personal than its predecessor, it's much creepier, experimental, and nocturnal. Each song seems to be set in a twisted alternate-universe carnival. There are whirls, stomps, kazoo zings, and melodies that go round and round like a carousel, all of which are topped off by Fasolo singing alongside, well, himself (what better way to portray insanity than harmonizing with yourself?) in that wicked-witch whine of his. Given the nightmarish thread running throughout The Midnight Room's musical arrangements, there might even be some lyrical theme binding it all together, but I have no idea what it is. All I know is it evokes bizarre, dizzying imagery of a Fellini/Gilliam-esque proportion. BRIAN J. BARR

RETROLOWFI.COM

If you want to write about Jennifer Gentle in your blog, there are two things you have to point out in the first paragraph, or you'll risk having your indie-cred card yanked out of your hipster wallet quicker than you can say "Malkmus". Let's get them out of the way right now, shall we? a). Jennifer Gentle is not a woman. It is a one man show run by Marco Fasolo.b). Yes, the name Jennifer Gentle is a reference to Barrert-era Pink Floyd lyric. (For those of you keeping score, the song in question is "Lucifer Sam"). Great. With that out of the way, we're free to concentrate on the second Jennifer Gentle LP on Sub Pop, The Midnight Room. Their stateside debut - 2005's disjointed Valende - offered oodles of psychedlic pop promise in the guise of the insidiously catchy "I Do Dream You", but too often relied on reverb-laden sound-effects-sake-of-sound-effects. Thankfully, Midnight decides what type of record it wants to be upfront and sticks to it's own gameplan. For the uninitiated, Jennifer Gentle can be a bit of a tryling listen. I'll attempt to boil them down to a bite-size description, but if I fall flat… forgive me. Their records aren't exactly full of obvious I-IV-V chord progessions, you know? Anyways, to these ears Jennifer Gentle sounds like early Syd Barrett being filtered through post-1983 Tom Waits production curating an LSD-soaked tour of Disneyland in the middle of the night. And now that longtime drummer Alessio Gastaldello has left Fasolo all by his lonesome, it's clear that Valende's shortcomings may have been an issue of 'too many cooks in the kitchen', since Midnight Room is such a cohesive and well-structured listen. If you're looking for some catchy, off-kilter hooks, look no further than the demented music hall chorus of "Take My Hand", as well as the succinct and relatively straight ahead harmonies of "Electric Princess". No worries, you can still get your weird on with the eerie less-is-more chimes of "Granny's House", where Fasolo uses silence more effectively than any actual music, and the final track - "Come Closer" - is an atonal drone drenched in enough reverb to make most surf bands jealous. The Midnight Room feels more like an album that actually takes you somewhere in it's thirty-seven minutes, instead of hoping that self-indulgent clatterings and noise will accentuate and accelerate your appreciation for the group as a psychedelic entity. And while I've never had a chance to see Fasolo's five-piece live incarnation, if The Midnight Room is a correct representation, their shows could very well be every bit as transcendant as the mind-bending late sixties groups they so lovingly emulate. And if you ask me… that's a job well done.

AVERSION.COM

It used to be that good, old-fashioned nationalistic Americans could take pride in the fact that although Italy really kicks our asses up and down the street in terms of the visual arts, we could always snigger that the peninsula couldn't produce a winning rock act to save its life. Maybe with the flurry of the Renaissance and the emergence of Leonardo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Botticelli and Michelangelo, the land shot its artistic wad, so to speak, and lay spent through the rock'n'roll era. Bad news for you pro-America types: After about five centuries, that refractory period's finally over. Jennifer Gentle's second album for Sub Pop establishes the act's a regular rock'n'roll Italian Stallion, ready to rip it up on par with any of our domestic breeds. The Midnight Room takes the acoustic psychedelic folk-pop of the band's last effort, ratchets up the drug factor and strokes the idiosyncrasies and gets ready to rock, so to speak, with a blend of psychedelia that's equal parts darkness and whimsy. As pianos fade in and out, guitars intertwine with kooky vocal arrangements and shadows obscure most of the band's most conventional ideas, it's hard to decide if Jennifer Gentle's a menace using pop thrills to lure us into our grisly death, or simply a pop act with a penchant for popping tabs and sitting around with the lights out. Jennifer Gentle never answers that question, but leads listeners on a series of songs that make the distinction a little unnecessary. The Midnight Room's a reminder that psychedelic pop doesn't have to be the sunshine-and-Muppets affair we've come to expect from The Elephant 6 and its followers; that should be a good enough answer. "It's In Her Eyes" rests firmly on a violin hook that probably sounds a lot like what Mr. Scratch plays when he takes up the bow to pit your soul against a golden fiddle, and the jarring doses of gang-screeching backing vocals don't do anything to make the track any less unnerving. "The Ferryman" gathers a guitar that sounds a heck of a lot like a carousel calliope and enough creepy-crawly darkness to make it sound as if Nick Cave wandered into the Sandoz laboratories. "Granny's House" is a largely acoustic number that's just as tripped-out as any electric guitar, pedal-based head-trip, the band packs more twists, turns and new wrinkles into "Telephone Ringing" than most acts do on an entire EP and "Quarter to Three" is as close as Jennifer Gentle gets to straightforward psych-pop. Although Jennifer Gentle routinely work its way into carnival-like melodies and shadowy atmospheres, The Midnight Room never loses track of its pop roots. This is an album that, even at its most fun-house, freaked-out moment still knows a thing or two about keeping itself grounded in pop convention. That awareness is more than a grounding -- it's a lifeline that keeps listeners from getting too lost, going too deep and getting too mixed-up in the shadowy world of Jennifer Gentle. So what if The Midnight Room isn't the sort of Italian masterpiece as, say, "David" or "The Mona Lisa." It's a start: Italy has rock of which it can be proud. Nick Loughery

WATERLOO RECORDS

A new Jennifer Gentle record (who are a band and not a girl). I've been wondering when this was coming cause their last album was one of my favorites of 2005. It was one of those rare times where you pick up a record you know nothing about because it looks interesting and then it turns out to be exactly what you've wanted to hear for awhile and you get really excited and possessive since you're the one who discovered it so it's more "yours" than anyone else's. (breath) I figured I wouldn't tell you anything about the new album and you could just take a chance, get it and feel like you'd discovered on your own but you probably won't do that, will you? I want to stay away from comparisons tohorror flicks, haunted houses and spooky amusement parks cause I don't want to give the impression that this is a campy listen. These songs are intelligent arrangements of twangy guitars, hollow vocals, sinister organ and a minimal, well placed rhythm section. Assimilating European psych, American rock n roll, Italian soundtracks and spaghetti westerns, The Midnight Room , while descriptively weird, is a well constructed mix of influences and a wholly accessible and enjoyable record. This is Jennifer Gentle's best record yet and even though I've been waiting awhile for this, I'm getting just as excited and possessive about this record too. - Kevin

GOTHRONIC.COM

Jennifer Gentle is a psychedelic avantgarde postrock outfit from Italy. The band has released records on various labels, among which the Italian A Silent Place label. Two years ago the band made it's debut as the first Italian band on the American Sub Pop label with the Valende album and now they have returned with their second release on that label: The Midnight Room. Live the band plays as a five-piece group but on record the music is mostly originating from the brain of Marco Fasolo because fellow band founder Alessio Gastaldello had left the band. The Midnight Room has been recorded in his studio in an old mansion on the misty plains of Northern Italy. This must have been appealing to the artist's mind. Jennifer Gentle very much sounds like Pink Floyd from the times of A Piper at the Gates of Dawn. The Syd Barrett times. Not very unexpected with a bandname like that, which is of course coming from the Lucifer Sam song of Pink Floyd and supposedly refers to the girlfriend of Syd Barrett back then. That influence of Syd Barrett is merged with a peculiar kind of fascination for rock 'n roll influences and European opera and filmmusic like that of Kurt Weill or Nino Rota (a.o. The Godfather). This is all played by a traditional band line-up with guitar (ok, two guitars), bass and drums, enriched with the swirly sounds of keyboards and packaged into suprisingly accessible pop tunes. This accessibility however is only a shallow shiny layer on the outside as beneath it hides much refined experiment, a wide array of strange sounds and ingeniously orchestrated tension. The atmosphere at times remind of a strange abandoned lunapark in nightly dark, but also references to a strange kind of morbid children's songs or an occult variation on Alice in Wonderland are in place here. Especially recommended are the songs 'Telephone Ringing', 'It's in Her Eyes', 'Take My Hand', 'The Ferrymen' and 'Electric Princess'.

GOODNIGHTCIGARETTES.COM

Italian ghost-house music—this is how a friend described the new Jennifer Gentle record. And I have to say, dude was spot on. The Midnight Room is the sound of a man lost in some cryptic, terror-filled nightmare, looking for escape at every turn, but with each step, delving deeper and deeper into the dream—and all the while, giggling every step of the way. To put it more simply, Jennifer Gentle's sophomore album is one of the most compelling journeys into one man's head since Syd Barrett put sound to tape. And all this emerges at the hands of Italian songwriter Marco Fasolo. With a guitar-drum-piano set-up, Fasolo recorded this psych-pop masterpiece on his lonesome in a rickety, old house in Northern Italy and in a house whose previous owner exited the world via a self-inflicted rifle shot. In such ghostly circumstances, it's no wonder that this recording came out as bizarre, and yet entirely remarkable, as it did. Yes, Italian ghost-house music, indeed. Brock Thiessen

CALGARY HERALD

Feeling creepy? Prog-adelic Italian outfit Jennifer Gentle returns with what resembles a tribute to vintage suspense cinema in album form. Utterly sincere in its weirdness, the record sneaks, lurches and lurks from Hitchcockian (less Robyn, more Alfred) creep-pop through early-period Cliff Richard (if he was a louche super-villain) to something that sounds like baroque chamber music played backwards, closing with a wheezing accordion underscoring a bashed-out vulpine hymn that fades into sequel-begging distant squeals. File under peril and menace, with a camp audacity and eerie semi-gothic sensibility led by the threateningly omnisexual wail of Marco Fasolo, who channels what could be a frosty blond, 'lude-addled drag queen called Tipsy Headon. Yes.

ROCKSOUND UK

"...Vey odd indeed but dman good fun nonetheless" 8 out of 10

SATT.ORG

Die oben genannten Künstler benötigen keine Unterstützung mehr, deren Promotionmaschinerien laufen wie geschmiert. Noch etwas anders sieht das bei Jennifer Gentle aus: JG ist keine Solokünstlerin aus dem angloamerikanischen Sprachraum, sondern die Band von Marco Fasolo aus Padua/Italien. Die erste Jennifer Gentle-Platte für Sub Pop hiess „Valende" und wurde von Kritikern in aller Welt hochgelobt, allein, der grosse Erfolg blieb aus. Allerdings wurde Steve Shelley, seines Zeichens Drummer bei Sonic Youth, auf die Italiener aufmerksam und liess sich bei Auftritten mit seinem Nebenprojekt Two Dollar Guitar von Jennifer Gentle supporten, was ihnen viel Credibility verschaffte. Die neue JG-Platte „The Midnight Room" nahm Fasolo in seinem Ectoplasmic Studio auf, das in einem verlassenen Haus in Norditalien untergebracht ist. Der frühere Besitzer hatte sich in diesem Haus erschossen und es scheint, als spuke nicht nur er durch „The Midnight Room". Das Album klingt wie eine kleine Nachtmusik für Emily the Strange und es empfiehlt sich unbedingt, die Platte spätabends zu hören, das Licht zu löschen und die Fenster zu öffnen, damit die Kreaturen der Dunkelheit den Ursprung dieser seltsamen Klänge auch gut orten können... Wobei wir es hier keinesfalls mit Gothic zu tun haben, nein, stellt Euch einen verlassenen Rummelplatz vor, auf dem sich Federico Fellini, Link Wray und Lydia Lunch treffen, um einen Soundtrack für Edgar Allen Poe-Verfilmungen zu komponieren. Oder denkt an eine dunkle Straßenecke im Berlin der zwanziger Jahre, an der sich Lotte Lenya vom kunstseidenen Mädchen Feuer geben lässt. Oder stellt Euch die Jukebox eines American Diner aus den Fifties vor, deren Inhalt von Luigi Nono neu interpretiert wird. Marco Fasolo selbst führt Syd Barrett, 13th Floor Elevators und Joe Meek als Einflüsse auf, was eine ungefähre Richtung vorgibt. Er und seine Mitmusiker erreichen mit einfachem Rock'n'Roll-Instrumentarium (zwei Gitarren, Bass, Schlagzeug, vereinzelter Klaviereinsatz) eine spooky Stimmung, die nicht von dieser Welt, zumindest nicht aus dieser Zeit zu kommen scheint. Der Opener „Twin Ghosts" klingt, als hätte Angelo Badalamenti mit den Geistern jung verstorbener Teenstars wie Ritchie Valens Kontakt aufgenommen; „Telephone Ringing" würde Captain Beefheart zur Ehre gereichen: dekonstruierte Rockabilly-Rhythmen werden mit undefinierbaren Hintergrundgeräuschen garniert, auch „Mercury Blood" mit der geisterhaften Quietschfanfare am Anfang und „Quarter to Three", das mit kontrapunktischen Laut-Leise-Effekten arbeitet, sind experimentelle Kleinodien der dritten Art. „It´s in her Eyes" klingt durch das plinkernde Klavier ein bisschen wie „Love Cats" von The Cure, nur ohne Refrain, bei „Take my Hand" sieht man derangierte Nighthawks vor sich, die zu einer Kurt Weill-Melodie ins Morgengrauen schwofen. „The Ferryman" und „Electric Princess" sind runtergestrippte Rock'n'Roll-Operas, bei denen kein Ton zuviel erklingt; in „Granny's House" rasselt und raunt es unwirklich über den minimalistischen Klangkörper. „The Midnight Room" wirkt als Gesamtkunstwerk lange nach und ist eine der grossen kleinen Entdeckungen des Jahres.