Diaframma
Siberia

We are still. Lying on a bed. We look at the window and see that it’s raining outside.

A gray, melancholy day…on our turntable spins an old 33 rpm dated 1984… the cover is one that remains etched in everyone's memory. A snowy landscape, with distant chimneys and locomotives… a name, blending with the grayness of the cover says DIAFRAMMA and underneath yet another word… "SIBERIA".

With this magnificent LP, the Florentine band Diaframma, led by Federico Fiumani, brought to life the "new Italian rock sung in Italian", alongside other bands like Litfiba, Moda, Underground life. The opening track is one that dazzles the brain…it stays with you indelibly. Dry chords, cold, majestic bass drum, linear but imposing bass line… it’s "Siberia". It will become Diaframma's anthem, omnipresent in setlists.

But there’s a surprise… a new singer… it’s Miro Sassolini, who for about a year has replaced the dark and visionary Nicola Vannini, removed by Fiumani himself for being too "Curtis-like". Miro has a powerful voice, bordering on operatic, very emphatic. He will characterize Diaframma’s sound until 1988. Magnificent lyrics, that only Fiumani’s pen could write.

There’s a less gloomy atmosphere compared to the previous "Pioggia" and the EP "Altrove", but the breath remains labored, suffocated by snow. "The ice blends with the sky and with the eyes, when darkness approaches…" so goes the first verse of "Siberia", also fabulous for the sax solo in the middle part (legend has it was played by Madasky). A video clip was also made, all played in a grayish-blue color that emits cold… where the only colors are a drink and the orange eyes of Leandro Cicchi, a purple egg, a red apple.

A sharp snare hit. Silence. Spectral guitar with lots of delay and echo. It's "Neogrigio", a piece reminiscent of "Cure" style memories, with a very dark-wave sound and imposing voice… "I’ll lock my feelings in empty boxes" sings Miro… "those withered memories in a fragment of autumn". Difficult lyrics but ones that remain timeless and very current. Then it’s time for "Impronte", a piece with a slightly sunnier sound, but with lyrics that certainly do not convey cheerfulness… perhaps a love ended, lost forever…(by Fiumani himself??) where "I preferred to leave before being left, before the heart alone, slipped into darkness along with the yellowed fans".

For Diaframma fans, these three pieces were not new, but were already presented at the last concert with Nicola Vannini at "My way" in Fiorenzuola on October 12, 1983, along with "Desiderio del nulla"… (recordings later included in 1999 in the anthology of unreleased live and studio "Live & Unreleased n.d.r.). The iconic "Amsterdam" closes side A, later made famous in 1985 in the new version performed with the cousins "Litfiba", famous for a fantastic duet between Miro Sassolini and Piero Pelù, a legendary accordion solo by Aiazzi and a beautiful Fender Stratocaster solo by Ghigo Renzulli (besides Fiumani’s cutting Telecaster).

We turn the record over and it starts with "Delorenzo", the only other track along with Siberia that was included a month earlier in the IRA labeled compilation "Catalogue issue". A piece where "outside this room my time dies, leaving traces of blood on my hands" and where nonetheless the atmosphere is slightly less heavy. Sixth track… it is "Memoria" the only piece along with "Amsterdam" completely unpublished and added to make "Siberia" a proper LP of 8 tracks. The idea was Pirelli’s, who convinced Fiumani not to make just a 6-track mini-LP.

After "Memoria" ends with a beautiful solo in an upbeat by Fiumani, a well-known song starts, very dark, acidic… it’s "Specchi d'acqua". A violent piece, where Miro gives his best "I could still be there, caressing winter in a water mirror” with a very powerful and sharp voice. The piece was already released in 1983 on the Rockerilla compilation "Body section", but in a different version, with "real" drums and not electronic, and especially with vocals by Nicola Vannini… a rare version this last one, more painful in the singing, more tied to the first “dark” production. It ends with "Desiderio del nulla", a track with very significant and introspective lyrics… "a slow reflection appears, behind the misted windows… when the light interlocking, shakes sudden nights".

After only 28 minutes it closes an immortal record, that has inspired many generations. At a first listen, it may seem heavy, confused, undefined… but trust me, let yourself be carried away by these atmospheres of a "Florence" snow-covered, almost Siberian.