Description
Vanessa Van Basten (neither a Dutch singer nor the wife of a famous football player) was born in Genoa, Italy, in 2004 as a one-man band. Founded by Morgan Bellini, a DJ at the time, Vanessa was immediately acclaimed by critics since the release of the first self-titled demo (later reissued on vinyl in the USA). La Stanza di Swedenborg (2006) is the first real full-length album, where bassist Stefano Parodi entered as a permanent member of the band. A cinematic mix of Post-Rock, Sludge Metal and Shoegaze: quite a new sound within the Italian underground scene in that period. Several labels are interested in producing the band, that seemed to have developed its own style, more focused on the general atmosphere than on brute strength. When permanent drummer Roberto Della Rocca also joined the band, the trio released "Psygnosis" Ep via Consouling Sounds and started playing live quite intensely until 2010, when Bellini moved to Austria and declared the band was again a studio project only. In the same year, Vanessa signed for American label Robotic Empire and released "Closer to the Small / Dark / Door", their second album. This full length contains shorter tracks and is influenced also by Morricone and by 4AD '80 albums. In 2013, Vanessa Van Basten released two split records: a concept album with Belgian sludgers Hemelbestormer, and another release shared with Italian friends MoRkObOt, both showing a more eclectic sound, vaguely influenced by The God Machine and Swans. "Ruins: Sketches and Demos" was released in 2014, containing outtakes and live recordings. Then comes "Disintegration Ep", released via Taxi Driver Records on January 2015. Four cover versions from The Cure's masterpiece, reinterpreted with the help of some well-known friends within the Italian underground rock scene. At this point the band ceased all activity, although Bellini released a solo album on Avantgarde Records (under the moniker Angela Martyr) and started a new project (Yellow Kings, with which he would release a digital demo and an EP), as well as recording ambient/drone material under his own name.
ABOUT THE ALBUM:
To everyone's surprise, in 2023 Bellini reunited the original Vanessa Van Basten lineup and began recording a new album, "Yes", to be released by italian label Subsound Records in 2026. The band members consider this album a great return to their early style. Even if Vanessa Van Basten never pushed on promotion or social networks and with less than a hundred live shows in the mid '00, it has always been critically acclaimed, it is considered a cult band and it has unsuspected admirers, as Randy Blithe of Lamb of God (who said they're "geniuses").
