Dolce Mente
Il Temporale Estivo

Pleasant surprise.

The "Dolce Mente" make their debut in 2008 with "Il Temporale Estivo," a self-produced EP, whose tracks can be entirely listened to on myspace.com/dolcementeband.

The Dolce Mente are quite distant from a certain trendy pop of the last two-three years, which countless emerging bands have embraced (I'M From Barcelona, just to name a few), even with fair skill, oscillating between fast pop with evident new-wave tendencies (for example, Black Kids), or catchy-pop full of choruses, clapping, and sometimes too intrusive keyboards (for example, I'M From Barcelona and Spinto Band).

Instead, the Dolce Mente follow a path of their own. Although indebted to some insights from bands like Notwist, Grandaddy, and Death Cab For Cutie (just to make a few obvious references, but which pop group of the 2000s isn't at least a little indebted to these bands, if not even a clone?), the path taken by Dolce Mente shows their own personality and character.

A pop with slight splashes of electronics wisely and appropriately dispensed, few keyboard touches, some guitar scratches, soft bass chimes, and attentive drum beats. Over everything, a voice and well-crafted lyrics, that show a songwriter's attitude. For an EP and a debut work, self-produced to boot, the arrangement is surprising.

The title track and opening song, "Il temporale estivo," sees gradually insinuated, after a Grandaddy-like beginning, much more faded and timid sounds than one would expect from the American "grandparents" of Modesto, California. The result is a pleasant contrast. Sung in English, it would be an excellent export indie-pop track, although the validity of the lyrics makes clear the band's choice to pursue the goal of long-term glory at the expense of immediate commercial achievements as easy as they are fleeting.

Indeed, the subsequent songs are even more intimate, both in terms of music and lyrics (so much so that they recall on more than one occasion some happy insights of Sparklehorse), and express a mature songwriting, consciously careful not to overdo it. In the following "Pensarci ancora" a slightly distorted rock soul can be seen, which distantly recalls certain sounds of Pavement.

In "Oceano," as well as in "Attore di circo" (the third and fifth track respectively), the instruments are such by definition: "just" "instruments," in fact, unconditionally at the service of the voice and lyrics. "Niente" is the most "circular" of the EP: one seems to glimpse the guitar constructions of Giardini Di Mirò enriched by the sweetness of Yuppie Flu.

Ultimately, the Dolce Mente seem aware of their potential and wisely decide not to cross that boundary that would make them fall into virtuosity and genre mannerism, at the risk of making them appear arrogant. They then opt for a minimal and discreet pop, with a taste for melody and attention to detail. An excellently curated and never banal work, evoking rarefied images, colors, and emotions.

They have just been born, but they already seem big.

Five stars for the skill demonstrated and as an encouragement for the future.