Dargen D'Amico
D'

Dargen knows how to communicate a lot, a great deal with just words. Always has. His field is that of the word understood as spoken word, the SPOKEN. He is a craftsman of the word, in every aspect: both paradigmatic (that is, he knows how to choose them) and creative (he knows how to combine them), but above all, suprasegmental (he knows how to pronounce them).

This last aspect is where I want to focus mainly. This is what makes Dargen's music so beautiful and innovative: the WAY he pronounces the words.

Yes, because those who bought "Musica senza musicisti" were impressed not so much by WHAT he said but by HOW he said it. His voice, the way he drags it, his visceral way, that's what makes him unique: it's the feeling of SINCERITY that emanates from listening that convinces you; without it, you might as well throw the records away.

Okay, having said this preamble, the dilemma arises: can this ability alone sustain an entire album?

I don't think so. And indeed, it doesn't.

A blatant step back compared to the previous album, this work seems made to say: even the best can be corrupted. So it happened. Okay, "D’ parte uno" comes out, I listen, I hear "Malpensandoti" and think: Dargen, thank you for existing. Then I go on to the other tracks, and I tell myself: okay, this part talks about love, love, and nothing else, but the second part will be better, let's believe. But no. By the 50th time you hear the phrase "love is..." you feel like shooting yourself in the balls. Okay, love is important, perhaps it's all that makes it worth being human, but damn it, one song would have sufficed. Because if you only talk about one thing, eventually you saturate. If I wanted to read Moccia, I would have read Moccia. I remember when in an interview Morgan said: "I recommend Dargen D’Amico, who is a great songwriter, D A R G E N D A M I C O." Poor Morgan, what a disappointment.

But one could say: okay, forget the lyrics, but the music? Well, the music is awful. Where are the electronic experiments of "MSM"? Where are those pounding rhythms? Anyone who owns "Di vizi di forma virtù" and hasn’t walked around with headphones at full blast humming along is lying. Yes, the lyrics were crappy, but the rhythm was pumping. And a crappy lyric is fine if the rhythm pumps. Instead, nothing. The music is flat throughout almost the entire first part of the album, and in the second, the few flashes of brilliance are mere attempts to copy what was good from the first. The only hints of rawness are brought by the Crookers and so are in Crookers style, but we want the Dargen style, not the Crookers style, dammit. Then there's the singing. That damned singing... That damned singing... How many times have I told you that you must not, must not use that damned singing in albums, how many? "The singer-songwriters use singing" I'm not a fan of singer-songwriters, I'm your fan. And I'm telling you I want you to stop with that damn singing!!!

Few good lyrics, few good rhythms, very little remains. With sad bitterness, I say, very little remains. But why something like this? Has Dargen suddenly become an asshole?

I feel like quoting some songs from the previous albums, but I won't because, damn it, if to review an album, you must constantly compare it with the previous ones, it means there's little to say about this one. And that's how it is.