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Rating: It wasn't easy to form an opinion about this album: what can be said after the first listen is that it is not a conventional work. Maroccolo enlisted the collaboration of some of the most significant artists in the current Italian music scene for its creation. Naturally, the judgment on each track is heavily influenced by the predisposition towards each performer, which affects the overall judgment of the work, which is undoubtedly the honest realization of an ambitious project. Besides the old friends from the Florence area (Andrea Chimenti, Federico Fiumani, his former travel companion in Litfiba Pelù), there are Franco Battiato, Raiz from Almamegretta, Cristina Donà, Manuel Agnelli, Cristiano Godano, Ferretti, la Di Marco, Fiamma, and even a few more overexposed names (in particular, I'm thinking of the much-hated - by me - Cherubini and Consoli, who I now find cordial annoyance). As you can see, the project participants are variously assorted, so one could reasonably expect a certain heterogeneity in the sound. Maroccolo, however, has written with each performer strongly characterized tracks by the attitudes of each one, still managing the difficult task of weaving the work together in a unified way, permeating the entire CD with the same rarefied atmosphere centered on bass melodies (and it could not have been otherwise, being Maroccolo) but not only...
The result has a certain unity, characterized by almost discreet arrangements, leaving a central role to the voice and bass line; the general intimate tone of the compositions, not shouted, but sung by almost all artists in half voice.
The production is refined: there is a discreet use of keyboards, strings make a fleeting appearance, and brief sampled sounds recur obsessively in the background, almost to intensify the discomfort in the listener. Maroccolo's sound universe is sparse at first glance: certainly, it is dark with few flashes of light, but greatly curated and characterized by a soft sound.
Since the overall judgment of the work is influenced by the diversity of each individual artist from the others, it is inevitable to focus on the most significant tracks: the first mention certainly goes to Piero Pelù, who, disappointingly for a long time, unpredictably redeems himself with an interpretation not over-the-top as usual.
Notable performances by Godano, in the unprecedented role (excluding the taste he had given us in La Vampa Delle Impressioni) of a reader-narrator in the Massimo Volume style, as well as by Ferretti, la Di Marco, and Fiamma (anyway, for affinity, the performers most in Maroccolo's strings); also, Donà's piece is pleasant, full of great delicacy; Raiz (a very welcome return), Chimenti, and Battiato stand their ground decently. Less convincing are Manuel Agnelli's performances, who, even by recovering the language of his own artistic origins - English - does not recover its freshness; indeed, he appears tired like never before (I now await the new Afterhours album with some added concern), Consoli (who recovers the Sicilian dialect, a touch of folklore that doesn't add much), Cherubini (the most out-of-context and useless track), and Renga (an artificial, "affected" interpretation, submerged by endless warbles in a track still lacking impact).
The album is not easy and overall interesting, but not in all tracks "difficult" is synonymous with "beautiful," so the work is more advisable to P.G.R.-C.S.I. etc. etc. "aficionados."
Others can abstain from purchasing without excessive remorse.
Tracklist
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