Franco Battiato
Apriti Sesamo

Indeed, those who took years to understand that Gommalacca is objectively superior to L'Imboscata should not dare to review a new Battiato album ten days after its release. However, it seemed a travesty to me that there was no review of Apriti Sesamo on this site, at least until I wrote these few lines.
Faced with the aforementioned limits in judging it, Battiato forgive me, I thought of a process that would allow me to frame the album more clearly. After spending hours listening to music and lyrics, I then selected my favorite tracks from Fisiognomica to Apriti Sesamo, a chronological ascending sound flow, playing among many, tracks like Oceano di Silenzio, Lode all'inviolato, Segunda Feira, il Mantello e la Spiga, Tiepido Aprile.
What to listen to to be in line with the past? Which tracks to hand down to posterity from this new album? The first choice came naturally, almost like a revelation, on La polvere del branco: a composition with marked lyricism centered on a reflection at the edge of cynicism on man's impotence in the face of death, defined as pure,inaccessible, shrouded in eternal solitary shadow; developed on a crescendo similar to the underrated Quello che fu, but more incisive and accomplished. I would have hoped to turn to lighter themes, but none are found in the album, so the second choice was once again inevitable. Testamento. The first two verses give us one of the most memorable linguistic solutions of Battiato's entire career, it's impossible not to mention it: I leave to the heirs impartiality, the will to grow and understand, a fierce and indulgent gaze, to not offend unnecessarily. Words that lend themselves to a double reading, a fierce invective or an indulgent bequest, towards his potential successors. And then the launch track Passacaglia, which will certainly end up among the memorabilia of compilations and greatest hits, the only pop moment of Apriti Sesamo, an urgent and exciting pamphlet, with lyrics inspired by the Baroque composer Stefano Landi; it is not a prelude to a classic creation, but to a new and successful attempt to combine pop with the past while simultaneously being more modern than the avant-garde. And if it’s not clear enough that Battiato's sensitive and critical soul feels the sixty-seven years, listen to Quand'ero giovane, which if you forgive the banality, is yet another brilliant invention, with a vaguely psychedelic soundscape, a reminiscence of youth, centered on the memories of early musical experiences. The end of the track with a Hammond solo seals the creative pinnacle of the album.
Well, given these four, how then to define Apriti Sesamo, a sound experiment with creeping sounds (Gommalacca)? A masterpiece of refined pop (La voce del padrone)? An album of great craftsmanship (L'imboscata)? Without being overly optimistic it is a bit of all this, because it seems to encapsulate many of the artist's repertoire peculiarities, but never over the top and without a real swing towards catchiness. It is certainly unfortunate not to find, almost as if it were an old friend, the playful nature, the pop attitude, the sound bursts still present in minimal part in the previous Il Vuoto. But Battiato is now a giant, an elder, of Italian music, having passed through almost every field of contemporary art, and it is just and normal for him to offer us what he is capable of today, without forcing or odd whims, because each age of man has its own attitudes, inclinations, and weaknesses.