Il Piccolo Bu
Innocenti

THE REVIEW

The thoughts may also be profound, but their sound remains on the surface, swaying over layers of chiming guitars and tremolo synths, for bittersweet and wearily late-adolescent indie pop nursery rhymes.

The return of Il Piccolo Bu is therefore not thrilling, softening the tones of their first work (“Noi siamo del 2000”, 2016), which represented the most interesting and saturated episode of the creature now controlled by 4 reckless artists from Solofra. In short, if the previous chapter represented the indie pop novelty, the new “Innocenti” is based on sounds and lyrics that are less fun, and at first listen, there is a feeling that this album has been heard before.

Of course, some of the wave density of the past episode lingers (the sharp guitars of “La Panda di Adriano”, the dizzying electronics of “Intorno al mondo”, a general indie Eighties atmosphere), but what was winning in the album from two years ago is discarded and toned down. What remains to be enjoyed is a handful of jangle sweets like “Il Casellante” and the good “Milano”, in addition to pleasant choral indiepop vignettes such as “Gatta Cenerentola” (perhaps the best piece of the lot), up to the unconditional retreat into the playful pop of their beginnings (“Amici”).

Interesting elements continue to peek here and there: among all, a remarkable handling of synths that could become a true future strength, but also an increasingly accurate and layered management of sound (although, I repeat, the radicalism of the previous episode is given up here). In short, the discussion on the alleged residual potential of Piccolo Bu is open. For now, it remains to note that, despite the frequent habit of walking on a razor’s edge, ruinous falls have never been recorded so far.