Cosmo
Cosmotronic

From Ivrea, Marco Jacopo Bianchi, formerly of Drink To Me and now the man behind the project Cosmo, was tasked with replicating the success of L'ultima festa. Released in 2016, it was an album of great depth and served as the lifeboat to introduce electro-pop music to Italy for the first time in its full sense: music that is simultaneously melodic and danceable, both singer-songwriter and electronic. Setting aside the pseudo-philosophical nuances that weighed down the previous Disordine (which, however, was not without its high moments) in favor of greater lyrical honesty, L'ultima festa quickly established itself as one of the cornerstone works of Italian music of the 2010s.

Cosmo's new album is titled Cosmotronic, named after a series of electronic nights organized by Bianchi and fellow artists in Ivrea. It is a double album, intended to give full expressive space to Cosmo's two sides: that of a pop singer and that of a producer/DJ. The first CD (LP for those who purchase it on vinyl) is the melodic one, where Cosmo picks up the conversation left off with the previous record: there is singing and dancing, or better yet, singing while dancing, and reflecting. "Sei la mia città," with its not-so-subtle eroticism ("sei la mia città, ti vengo dentro / e se succederà, qualcosa nascerà"), is the leading single, followed by the exuberant "Turbo" ("mi faccio un giro in giostra / vieni, fatti un giro anche tu / è divertente, non pensi a niente"); "Tristan Zarra" is the friend high on ketamine who comes to drag you off the couches and onto the dancefloor. But, as we said, it’s about reflection, without self-pity: "Quando ho incontrato te" is about losing oneself in today's dispersal, with a single point of reference, awaiting better times ("passerà / come passa un sabato"); "Tutto bene" is about shaking off heavy problems with hip movements, a catharsis from pain ("mia zia lottava dentro a un ospedale / e adesso non c'è più / e tutto quello che mi fa incazzare / non conta niente"). With the concluding "Ho Vinto," the dance-oriented soul that we will encounter in the second part emerges prominently.

The second side is pure techno music. Cosmo acts as a vocalist: uttering a few words with the necessary timing to accompany and guide the listener through the torrential flow of bass-line they find themselves in. It's about dancing and having fun, even if at certain points Cosmo's techno seems a bit academic: effective, like a good electronics student, but lacking the subtle yet indelible mark of a seasoned producer. For Cosmo's first real experience as a producer, the result is adequate, but nothing more.

An 8 for the first disc and a 6 for the second compose a total album score of 7.5 - with side A carrying more weight in the evaluation. Cosmo confirms himself as one of the most authoritative and original voices in contemporary pop, reminding us that dancing is not just for club morons, but the purest assertion of our physical freedom. Once again, it's about singing and dancing; casting aside rhetoric - which at this point would be easy to bring up - of dance as a political act, Cosmotronic is actually much simpler for most of its duration: it's awesome.