I Cani
Post Mortem

Nine years today are many, many for the fast and schizophrenic world that surrounds us and even more for the music industry, which is now accustomed to traveling at frantic rhythms. Few are granted the luxury of escaping these rhythms, and certainly, it is granted to those who have somehow managed to leave a mark with their music and can therefore afford the luxury of waiting and being waited for. Among this group of "lucky ones," we also find Niccolò Contessa, the “father” of Italian indie and that approach to songwriting that from the first album of the Cani became iconic and somewhat copied by everyone with varying success. Contessa was expected to take a big step, the leap that would definitively mark the end of an adolescent/university phase – in a process, to be honest, already strongly initiated with the previous album – and the arrival at a more adult and mature musical and expressive phase.

Let’s dispel any doubt immediately; in Post Mortem, the leap is there and it’s evident, starting from the excellent quality of the lyrics to the care of the sounds and arrangements. This is precisely where the main criticism I have for this work starts: while on one side there is a need to acknowledge Contessa's radical and actually fruitful sonic exploration, it's also true that where one decides to legitimately draw inspiration from sounds and approaches already in circulation, it would be at least wise to try to obscure the traces. In this album, however, the sonic exploration results in a constant and blatant oscillation between Mk.gee and Iosonouncane, two artists who have strongly shaped new song sounds in America and Italy and can be understandably taken as references, but here the echoes – especially to Iosonouncane – at times are really disarming, as in the instrumental title track post mortem.

Apart from this weakness (which, moreover, everyone can evaluate as they believe, since the lack of originality and adherence to a stylistic canon is not inherently a flaw), the material, as I said, is definitely valid: the lyrics deserve praise, as in many cases they truly mark a great step forward compared to previous albums which always ended up communicating with a well-characterized audience segment, while here they have the impact and credibility to reach anyone. The example is nella parte del mondo in cui sono nato, a great piece from every point of view that succeeds in narrating our times with an iconicity that few in Italy have recently managed to achieve. A couple more highlights worth mentioning include the opening track, io, and the surreal and sinisterly sweet felice, while the rest of the album is a series of good pieces that here and there risk falling into a formulaic effect, almost always compensated by good and altogether effective writing.

Debaser does not allow half-star ratings, which in this case would be crucial, it is an album that for me is worth a full 3.5, which can be rounded down to 3 for the issue with the sounds or up to 4 for the quality of writing and cohesion. Personally, I find the sonic exploration not a minor issue, and perhaps one great piece is not enough to make an entire album of thirteen songs shine. Therefore, I give it a 3, albeit reluctantly.

In any case, post mortem is enough to talk about a very good album, but not enough to talk about a masterpiece.