Blonde Redhead
Penny Sparkle

If someone, like me, were to rediscover Blonde Redhead today after their tumultuous beginnings 16 years ago, they would surely think it is a completely new band. Because from being faithful inspirers of Sonic Youth, noisy, abrasive, and absolutely pop, they have gradually mellowed, creating warmer and more sinuous sounds, making this "Penny Sparkle" a pleasant "torture" for lovers of the most elegant and ethereal dream-pop.

It slips away like raindrops on a desolate autumn afternoon, burning and scratching like the scorching sun in August, on the skin, in a whirlwind suitably guided by the refined and communicative voice of Kazu Marino, the undisputed leader of this Italian-Japanese trio, accompanied by the twins Amedeo and Simone Pace (Italian by birth, but New Yorkers by adoption).

This "Penny Sparkle" with its disarming emotional complexity, offers suggestions of innate and provocative sensuality from the first to the last track, without neglecting that intentionally present melancholic vein, which makes their music almost an intensive cure to feel better. Essential protagonists of this new, exhilarating chapter of Blonde Redhead's career are certainly keyboards with the pulsations and synth-dark textures of the 80s, which overlap the driving and creative guitars that had made the beginnings of the New York trio almost reckless.

Rich with electronics and dreamy settings is the opening "Here Sometimes", while pure trip-hop prevails in "Oslo", with which the album reaches compositional heights, recalling in some aspects the early Portishead. The versatility of their compositions emerges in the vintage gem "Will Be There A Stars" with Amedeo Pace on vocals, where there is a clear nod to the sound of the past, the only truly dirty and rock episode among Kazu's nocturnal shades and enticing melodies ("Black Guitar", "Spain").

Their transformation has generated more than a few doubts from critics, described precisely as a structural problem, a real loss of identity, but it is simply synonymous with a mature change of direction, a worthy continuation with their previous "23", a full and dense work to listen to and listen again in all its integrity... Perhaps on a dark and melancholy rainy day.

A full 4.5!