Cesare Basile
Hellequin song

"You will piss on the Bank of Italy, but you will not escape the womb, this is the stage that breaks the voice, when the song is sweetest, this is the day that rains in the eyes, this is just the desert"

A vast desert, death everywhere, blood and wailing, crows, ghosts, satisfied hatred, sacrifice, smoke and stench, and he, Hellequin, the harlequin, the demon leader who in the Middle Ages roamed the battlefields leading his army of darkness in search of warriors' souls, theater or harsh reality, a damnably current scenario, it's dawn and the defeated can finally find relief, they enter another dimension, life is now gone, Hellequin has gathered and ferried them, hell or paradise doesn't matter, it's all over. "Hellequin song" is a dark and gloomy album, minimal, with dry and incisive sounds, not very Italian, it recalls the black rock-blues of Nick Cave, blues, but also folk. Played live, fascinating and introspective, produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Eels, Goldfrapp, Giant Sand, Tracy Chapman), skeletal in arrangements, magnetic in melodies, raw and merciless in lyrics. Fourteen tracks, five in English, mature and theatrical that elevate the level of Italian singer-songwriter music.

"Dal cranio" a funereal ballad, very western, reminds us of the link between crucifixion and love, the splendid piano of "Finito questo" introduces sin and forgiveness, our dilemma, "Fratello gentile" is an electric waltz with Bauhaus-like bass and choirs by Manuel Agnelli that recalls De André in voice and lyrics, "Odd Man Blues" a blues indeed, enchanting and devastating, "Il deserto" is a waltz from a Parisian chansonnier, a carousel, the trap that ambushes us every day, "To speak of love" a cavernous voice reminiscent of Tom Waits, the Tindersticks, and Mark Lanegan, a dream, a journey, "Dite al corvo" country with prominent banjo, "Hellequin song" synthesizes the spirit of the album, one of the best pieces, "La festa di ieri" is what's left of a beautiful evening, fumes of alcohol and the pledge left behind, "Continuous lover, silent sister" echoes of Deus given the collaboration with Stef Kamil Carlens (leader of Zita Swoon) again banjo and slide guitar, "Usa tutto l'amore che porto" love discounted and regretted, reminds Ivano Fossati in "Ceaseless and fierce" arrives the ghost of Tim Buckley and the sweet and conclusive "Stella and the burning hearth" Cesare's voice intertwines with that of Kris Reichert, and the suffering distances.

I don't know if Hellequin will bring our soul to salvation, but it will certainly reveal to us a pristine beauty that will make us feel better. . .