Bugo
Sguardo Contemporaneo

(Universal/2006)

Misunderstood minstrel, our own Beck, bard of existential malaise... simply and symmetrically hermetic, the elusive Cristian Bugatti, known as Bugo, returns after a long silence with his latest work titled "Sguardo Contemporaneo".

The Bugo, as he is named by his admirers, the singer-songwriter of the lowlands, instant thinker, quirky musician, low-fidelity composer on his third Major label album, no longer independent, is even more irreverent in his intellectual hangover, producing an album capable of making both the audience who has followed him for years, aware of his peculiarities, and the casual listener happy.

Capable of making you laugh and think at the same time. He almost seems like a man of science from the Galilean era, if we consider the method with which he explores the creative madness that sets him apart: at the test of maturity, Bugo does not shy away and upon careful listening, it almost makes me think that "from doing it, to being there" our hero has returned to doing it... yes because this Bugo is a great trickster when he claims the disengagement of the artist and then unveils songs like "Che lavoro fai" in which he sings about the cage of precarious work and the existential malaise that ensues ("...what job do you do, do you have a contract or have you never had one? I'll lend you my money") or "Gelato Giallo" a resigned reflection on the indifference of people, increasingly presumptuous, in the age of communication ("Nothing can scratch us, except what surrounds us") and the quirky "Gggel" an amused satire on the importance of aesthetics in a society where having and appearing count more than being, once again through episodes of daily life namely a Bugo alter ego who, unable to find his hair gel, doesn't even consider the idea of leaving the house, when his friends are already waiting for him downstairs.

Bugo's classic Divertissements are not lacking as in the track "Oggi è morto Spock" with Country-Folk sounds and adolescent reminiscences "Amore mio infinito" (this time a 60's rock). Bugatti even touches the strings of the soul when in "Millennia" he claims his inability to see beyond his own nose and simultaneously his ability to catch details that others overlook in the small things of everyday life.
In short, those who already know him will not be surprised by the coexistence of singer-songwriter and Lo-Fi sounds of "Quando ti sei addormentata" with Indie-rock passages as in "Coda d'Italia" with even an organ à la The Doors... blasphemous!

In fact, there is something diabolical in me, I am a fan of Bugo, albeit critical of some episodes on the borderline of trip-hop in his artistic past... but this time it's almost a masterpiece and I hope to admire him live, in concert, even here south of no North.