Carmen Consoli
Confusa e felice

THE REVIEW

“Confusa e felice”, the second chapter from the Catania songstress, was released in '97 after the good, but not spectacular “Due parole”. Here, however, the differences are palpable and visible, and for me, this is the most successful work, perhaps only for the naturalness and spontaneity, almost bordering on naivety, of the lyrics and arrangements.

Carmen represents her world, her stories, and her moods with irresistible clarity and freshness, an innate ability to write, and a winning sensitivity, making Carmen's lyrics the instrument to bet on. Take “Blunotte”, one of those pieces Carmen fans are proud of, a very sweet ballad where I imagine a decidedly tired and sick Carmen, the love she feels for a man too distant (in every sense) from her, sucks her self-esteem and pride. This song, structured on a few guitar chords, some violins, and percussion, is still rough, but decidedly personal and alive. The album shines in energetic pieces like “Uguale a ieri”, “Confusa e felice” (overrated if compared to other pieces) “Per niente stanca”, and the explosive “Fino all’ultimo”, which starts extremely slow, dripping, and almost funereal. Carmen is tired, her voice becomes more and more acidic, the pitch rises, sways, runs on an isolated and distant electric guitar, every breath, every gasp of Carmen touches the farthest strings of the soul, and then the whole song evolves, explodes, and rigidly becomes an unrestrained scream. The album also offers great things in more delicate pieces like “Diversi”, a bit chirping and tinkling, very restful and soft, “Fidarmi delle tue carezze” is sad and melancholic, and then for me comes the true symbol of this work, “La bellezza“, a beautiful song, with lyrics as sparse as the skinny guitar staff, it lives of its own light, shines in an already bright work, for qualities that bring you close to tears.

It is precisely the naturalness and the incredible talent, still raw, and not pressured by a success that would come only later, that creates the miracle. Carmen may not appeal to everyone, her voice is not palatable for all tastes, but the undeniable talent forces everyone to appreciate her. Coming from an absolutely flat panorama, dependent on that light music à la Gianni Morandi, Carmen broke free from it all and confidently brought new things (even to the Sanremo audience), or at least uncontaminated ones, now she has been somewhat downsized, not as miraculously anymore, also because success increases certain demands and influences creativity and talent which is still, however, atypical for the Italian music scene.