Cesare Cremonini
Possibili Scenari

THE REVIEW

POSSIBILI SCENARI 8.5/10

The folks at rockol.it (you know them, right?) write: “Dense, complex, different. But at the same time direct. If we had to use just a few adjectives, those would be it […] Cesare Cremonini’s ‘Possibili Scenari’ opens onto a landscape that requires time to be appreciated in detail, but that strikes right away. Is it pop? Is it rock? Is it mainstream? Does it reference indie-rock? Does he sing love songs? But does he also talk about immigration and today’s social dynamics? Are there really references to Pharrell Williams, Tame Impala, Depeche Mode and Frankie Goes To Hollywood? The answer to all these questions is yes. It’s all this and more, painting the picture of just how much of a varied journey these songs are, with unexpected twists and turns”.

Fiat Lux. After years of good albums (some more—“Maggese”, 2005—some less—“Il primo bacio sulla luna”, 2008), Cremonini finally lands the great record, his best to date (the next two, in my opinion, don’t quite measure up, weighed down by too much ambition). Here, there are ambitions—a lot, in fact—but they miraculously stay in check and don’t smother the author’s creative flair. “Possibili Scenari”, released in November 2017, had a long and troubled gestation: Cremonini started recording it in January 2016 and finished only in August of the following year, undecided about the project’s direction and length (49’, one of his shortest). To note, as always for him, the single chosen for radio “blitz”, in this case “Poetica”, is not the album’s best song. But, and this needs to be emphasized, it's a thoroughly anti-radio single: very long (5’), symphonic, with an almost 2-minute instrumental outro, the absolute opposite of what radio wants today—speed and immediacy. Yet, it was a huge success and paved the way for an album as surprising as it is reassuring: Zesare is one of the best “music writers” we have in Italy right now.

Recorded between Bologna, London, and New York, “Possibili Scenari” unfolds over 10 tracks, with at least 5 that are unassailable. The album unfortunately tends to unravel somewhat at the end, but to expect more would be asking too much. The opening is electrifying: the title-track is modern pop pure and simple, just like you hear on American charts, and here Cremoni is truly unique: his reference point is surely Italy, Bologna, Lucio Dalla, but his gaze is almost always turned west, to the USA (and earlier, the UK), which has been—and still is—the home of radio-friendly, commercial pop that, when done well, still feels as engaging as ever. The lyrics, too, are fun: “...La via della saggezza per gli indiani è fatta di molteplici visioni di coyotes/il mio spirito guida non ha molto da insegnare/si aff