02. Anything Worth Remembering Will be Forgotten as Soon as I Think of Anything Else 02:30
03. Slowly Losing my Shit 05:52
04. I'm Old, I'm 10:41
05. Everyday is a Bad Day 14:41
06. For My Brother 19:52
Review:
From the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, arrives one of the most pleasant sound surprises sprouted in the yet tender soil of 2020. “Two Handfuls of Rock” is the enthusiastic debut EP entirely recorded and produced by the talented Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Rafael Denardi – resident in the big and crowded city of São Paulo – with official release date on February, 6th, only in digital format and broadcasted through all online platforms.
With calibrated instruments pointed towards a breathtaking, dynamic, colorful and flaming Heavy Blues with revivalist essence and lushness, which bring us back to the scorching sensuality of the irreverent swiss power-trio The Dues and the effervescent explosiveness of the loud Californians JOY, this is a work of consummated beauty and dexterity. With the exception of the presence of the guest keyboardist Rafael Dantas to spice up and brighten the fourth theme of the EP “I’m Old, I’m Old”, “Two Handfuls of Rock” is a delicious and portentous EP superiorly executed by two hands. Its exquisite, meandering, vibrant and agitated sonority with vintage texture and beauty caused in me an ever-growing and immediate state of unperturbed fascination and intense excitement that acclimatized from start to finish.
The EP is about 22-minutes long, spiced and enflamed by a virtuous, aphrodisiac and ostentatious guitar which – with its powerful, muscly, jaunty and chiseled riffs that exude and shoot zigzagging, labyrinthic, acid and astonishing high-toxicity solos – pays homage to iconic references of the genre, such as Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Eric Clapton (Cream) and Rory Gallagher (Taste), a mighty, thick and dominating Rickenbacker 4003 bass with drawn lines, puffed and oriented towards robustness, cohesion, vitality and passion, warm drums with sharp spores and loose reins that revolves on its inventive and exciting rampant stunts, and youthful and refreshing leading vocals, captaining with undeniable charisma this ecstatic and raving sound detonation.
The expressive and caricaturesque artwork, made by the Brazilian illustrator Rafaela Barros, grants faithfully and even humorously the visual universe of the literal interpretation of “Two Handfuls of Rock”. This is record endowed with inspiration and “plowed in my image”, which surely fills its creator Rafael Denardi with pride.
Even though we just started our walk into 2020, in the hangover of this album, everything in me shouts convincingly that we are, without a doubt, in the presence of one of the strongest candidates to EP of the Year.
