CapaRezza
Prisoner 709

Michele Salvemini, aka Caparezza, returns with his seventh (or ninth?) album.

Let's start by dissecting the album's title (and second track), which is the number “709”. Two paths.

The first is that “Michele” has seven letters, while “Caparezza” has nine.

The second is that there are seven albums recorded as Caparezza and two as Miki Mix, his first stage name.

The number “0” used to tag prisoner Caparezza becomes the letter “o” when sung as “seven o nine”, so is it Michele or Caparezza? Therefore, is it his seventh or ninth album? The Puglian artist has always played a lot with this dichotomy.

The album mixed (or "mixato" to please the more Anglo-focused) by Chris Lord-Alge (already producer for Muse, Smashing Pumpkins, Phil Collins, Green Day, Bon Jovi, Joe Cocker, and many others) is an autobiographical concept album linked to the “prison” (hence “Prisoner”… really? I know, I'm a keen observer…) that struck Caparezza in 2015, namely tinnitus, not classifiable as a disease, but certainly a decidedly annoying condition, even more so for someone who does music professionally.

Accompanying him on this new album are longtime companions Alfredo Ferrero (guitar), Gaetano Camporeale (keyboards, synthesizers), Giovanni Astorino (bass) and Rino Corrieri (drums). In live shows, he is always supported by Diego Perrone (second voice, ex-Medusa and Niagara). Besides an entire orchestra of brass and strings, in this album, there are collaborations with “Mezzotono”, “Coro dei rumori bianchi” of Molfetta, Max Gazzé, John De Leo, and the international presence is that of “DMC”, precisely Darryl Matthews McDaniels of the historic Run DMC in “Forever Jung”.

The tracks are 16 and all would be worthy of analysis, but I won't do it, because it would become too long a review. I'll jump here and there like an acrobat on a wire trying to give an idea of the album's meaning to those who haven't bought or even heard it.

WARNING: a small tip for musical patrons. If you decide to try this work, I invite you to listen while reading the lyrics and keeping a dictionary and encyclopedia nearby.

Let's start from track 10, “Larsen” (I met him around 2015 / Since I still live with it, I toast, so "cheers" / Ever since, in my eardrums I carry the whistles / Every day as if returning from an AC/DC show) where he explains his auditory disorder, his prison, comparing it to the Larsen effect, the famous whistle you occasionally hear when a sound technician doesn't know his job at concerts or when musicians want to fool around or… be avant-garde. He explains tinnitus, how it feels, the psychological effects it can create, the fact that it is essentially an irreversible condition that may or may not improve regardless of medical treatments, treating everything with his usual humorous approach. I find it fitting and amusing the interruption of the phrase until the end by the backup singers, on the “un-”, prolonging the “i”, like a whistle on a G5.

In “Larsen” the problem is classified, while in “Prosopagnosia” the disease (it is a deficit that prevents the affected person from recognizing faces) and it is linked to an introspective vision (I don't recognize myself anymore, prosopagnosia / I'm singing but my face is not amused / I almost don't understand which song it is / Every time I listen to myself again, I'm resentful). Often in art, but not only, there are periods where it is hard to recognize oneself, where one doesn't appreciate oneself anymore, the lack of self-esteem, of new goals, but one reaches a level of awareness where it's necessary to get back up (It's still about me but it's not the same / There's no rest here, it's not a hostel / I make another step, not from Stelvio / Away from this bad mood, level crap). Delegated to the voice of John De Leo (ex-frontman of “Quintorigo”, then a long solo career, collaborations with “Orchestra Grande Abarasse” and recently with Fabrizio Puglisi) are the lines of the chorus sung in English.

The need for self-esteem appears crystal clear in the chorus of “Una chiave” (No! It's not true! / That you're not capable, that there's no key), it's completed in the next track with what “Ti fa stare bene” (the second single from the album), an anthem to doing what simply makes us have fun and be at peace, even if it's socially different from the masses, even if it's a return to youth, even if it's naïve. It has an ending that I personally adore (I sing of dragons, bargains, escapes more than clichés … This song is a bit too much for the radio, who cares as long as / It makes you feel good). The alliteration and substitution (dragons-drugs, bargains-money, escapes-girls) is “played” very well and the conclusion seems an unprecedented “cop-out”. Everyone can think that, they can also do it rightly, but Capa knows it already, he predicted it and tells you he clearly doesn't care, because he needs to feel good and not think about negativity, so "who cares".

Closes the circle “Migliora la tua memoria con un click” sung with Max Gazzé, who in truth appears only in a funny finale that doesn't add much to the song. A severe song that invites us to create culture, study, remember and not just use a “click” to pretend to have culture, but also to be active, to share thoughts and moods with people (Travel by car, unicycle, and glider / Not in your room with your finger on the atlas / Souls suffer because they never go anywhere / And then when they could, they go nowhere / At night, turn off the phone / It's a device, in fact, it's taking away your smile), a small manifesto of where today's society is heading.

Mention for “Confusianesimo” which has a stratospheric first verse in terms of references and metrics, “Sogno di Potere” (I paused the CD and laughed for at least an hour when a little voice said couldn't care less) and undeniably “Prisoner 709” a powerful track, a "rapcoreggiante", which at 3:16 literally makes the head detach from the neck when it explodes in the syncopated rhythm between drums/synth and voice with and then I'm among inmates / Not feared by me / Wanting to elevate the contents / Stairs that Muti doesn't allow / I foresee the future, Baba Vanga / I surely die, shovel spade / I carry so much anger in my veins / I can't hold back the avalanche.

Apologies for the prolixity, but in an album where the lyrics are the true body of the work, some specifics and quotes were necessary. The musical level is qualitatively more than acceptable with stylistic choices and various and enjoyable changes of rhythm and dynamics. There is certainly some pop (“L'Infinto”, “Autoipnotica”), but also rapcore (“L'uomo che premette”), electrorap (“Minimoog”), classic hip-hop (“Forever Jung”, “La caduta di Atlante”), but also a hint of dance (“Prosopagnosia Sia!) and a touch of folk (“Il testo che avrei voluto scrivere”). In summary: I certainly didn't get bored listening to this work.

I believe he is truly an artist of great distinction for our Italian scene.