CordePazze
I Re Quieti

Here I am talking about CordePazze, a very pleasant discovery with a Mediterranean flavor whose debut album, released in 2008 but still unknown, let's admit it, is truly stunning. The Sicilian quartet manages to surprise in every song without ever being repetitive, navigating through lively and original lyrics, brief essays on life and daily neuroses, pop arrangements, spiritual heirs of De André but without giving up the best popular tradition of which they rightfully consider themselves descendants.

It starts with the "Preludio," an ironic revisitation of the aforementioned Genoese songwriter, and kicks off immediately with "Sono Morto da Cinque Minuti," a sincere and melancholic ballad, a true "proem" of the album. It is followed by "La Canzone dello Spacciatore" with its restless and lively lyrics, a rhythm that cannot help but make you tap your foot for what may only superficially appear as a simple ditty. The amusing tale of "Sinfonica Sociale" concludes a perfect "pop trilogy": from here on, there is room for perhaps more committed yet no less enjoyable songs. An example is the civil ode "Giovannino Senza Paura," followed by the psychiatric neuroses of "Dr. Freud"; then the direct train from "Parigi," never so warm and close to Latin rhythms, to the picturesque "Verona" confused between ancient and contemporary.

With "Giovanni Telegrafista" begins an anticlimax that slows down the album until it stops on the notes of the ironic "Parolaccia," a stunning epilogue of the album, a lullaby that with an impeccable melody manages to vent angers and resentments in a text worthy of an anthology.

The absolutely new and original genre of "I Re Quieti" makes it a small masterpiece of the beautiful country: by managing to blend pop with singer-songwriter music and folk song with sophisticated contemporary lyrics, they have demonstrated the possibility of happily uniting present and past, tradition and innovation.

Theirs is a splendid example of artistic humility: "I Re Quieti" is a sincere and entertaining album from beginning to end, inexplicably ignored so far by the general public and the major record labels: it is a testament to the skill and talent of our musicians, who still manage to surprise us and let us listen to good music without having to "prostitute" themselves.