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We Who Play Smuggling Songs,
or "the path that echoes"1995, Tremezzo, Lake Como: a young man named Davide Bernasconi starts running from the shore, clutching a guitar in his arms. Along with his band De Sfroos, he's already released two self-produced bootlegs ("Ciulandari" and "Viif"), he has a punk background, many new ideas, and a great desire to tell stories and characters in the dialect of his beloved Lario. The band gradually makes a name for itself, moving from pub to pub, shore to shore, someone decides to believe in these guys, and one fine day they manage to release their first album, "Manicomi." As the title suggests, we find ourselves in the midst of a concept album based on the shattered stories and identities of a mental hospital's "guests". The music is country, it's folk, but not only: there are reggae influences like in "Ave Maria," the blues-swing of "La Furmiga," and even the angry punk of "Kamell" and "Spara Giuvann." Among the song-characters, we meet the dramatic and energetic "Anna," which opens the album, marking it with the fire of de-sfroosiana poetry, or the comical (but beware, reflection is just around the corner) tale of "Lo Sconcio": here Davide's voice is almost theatrical, and the horns create an irresistible and danceable echo to the story of the crazy savior. It's pointless to mention the two emblematic songs, always played at concerts and always awaited by all fans, namely the ska-folk "De Sfroos" and the ironic "La Curiera."
If the first part of the album appears carefree and focused on asylum life, the horizon in the second part widens, shifting to social criticism, as in the modest "Poor Italia"... and to those who accuse Davide of siding with the league, the answer comes with "La Fruntiera." In the mad universe of De Sfroos' debut, there is also room for the Irish emotions of "Nonu Aspis," the southern winds of "El Teemp" and the dark closure of "El Diavul."
Davide's tales follow one another without ever tiring us; the album still sounds raw compared to "Breva E Tivann," but already embryonically contains some themes of Van De Sfroos' poetry: "Manicomi" is a cauldron ignited by the energy of a punk attitude in which many of the inspirations, suggestions, and contaminations that Davide will explore in his more mature work are mixed.
from "Manicomi"
"Shaved heads, a thousand injections, we are the eyes of our fears
we do not distinguish tomorrow from yesterday in the screams of our thoughts
they come to visit us, they no longer know who we are
they come to visit us, we do not know them
they come to visit us, they do not know what to say
They speak strangely and we cannot understand"
Tracklist
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