Ivan Graziani
Cicli e tricicli

In 1991, Ivan Graziani released the album "Cicli e tricicli": unfortunately, the sound that characterized (almost) all his previous albums is largely absent in this work. What is particularly missing is the "sanguine" and energetic rock executed unmistakably by the quintessential guitarist of Italian singer-songwriting. And to think that the previous album, "Ivangarage" from 1989, was musically imbued with that "rock energy" described earlier. In this new work, however, the drive and energy of "Ivangarage" are, unfortunately, completely absent. The sound that pervades the entire work is indeed much more melodic and intimate, perhaps too intimate. Even regarding the lyrics, they often deal with themes already heard, and I would say elaborated much better, earlier in his career: women condemned to the stake as witches in 1600s Ireland (Emily); a sense of impotence towards life that flows inexorably where the only remedy is to close one's eyes and surrender to relive the past (Soltanto fumo); loneliness and the evil it provokes in its "victims" (Bambino antico); waiting for something to arrive from above while instead being stuck in "a stupid city parking" (Un'ora); the vision of a seahorse on the beach and its sudden leap to ride it while the city sinks, only to discover it was all a dream (L'ippocampo, inspired by "La morte del cervo" by Gabriele D'Annunzio, an Abruzzese like Ivan). In "Solo arte," it talks about a contortionist who performs for an audience thinking "Who knows what strange nights of love with a contortionist... But it's art, it's only art, and that's why she does it, bent there in the midst of everyone's eyes until the applause bursts. And the lights on stage light up because as long as an artist is there on stage, the stage will light up... And the boss says: For what it costs me... I'll make buckets of money with this contortionist": perhaps a metaphor related to the world of songwriting? But fortunately, there's something to save: "Boccacciana" talks about a tale, indeed, Boccaccian with many sexual innuendos: a woman wants to reach the altar as a virgin and enters a convent to confess, with all that follows: "yes, it's true I've sinned a lot, especially with looks and words; and now if you want absolution, kneel and kiss the altar, the devil is always lurking but I'll drive him back to hell. Touch touch, sooner or later you will touch touch touch, sooner or later you will touch touch, uh". At least a fun track, though not very original. "Io mi annoio" talks about Ivan's childhood memories in a very ironic way: "If my father had taught me to be a wedding photographer now I would be more respected, I would be that good man that I will never be. And while the bride smiles at the relatives, I see a sweet in the middle of her teeth, a small flirt with some aunt in the dark is fine as well, after all, I'm bored. In the end, it's always the same whether you see white, whether you see black I'm honest, here I'm bored, alone like a dog in a garden that doesn't know on which plant to lift its leg. But someday someone will throw me a bone and it will be different...". But the track I absolutely prefer and that in my opinion is one of Ivan's most beautiful is "Kryptonite": first of all, it's one of the few tracks, if not the only one, on the album with a more lively musical rhythm. And then the lyrics are magnificent, even if tragic: it talks about the cruelty subjected by his peers to a teenager maybe just a little shyer, who eventually decides to end it dramatically but also spectacularly: "Lello was good, let's say a genius, always sat by the window with his favorite Nembo Kid comic. And we all laughed if he said: -I will fly, and beyond the clouds I will go, not like you who try to push me down: you are all kryptonite-... He then said: -Look at me- And leaned over the edge and we there to hold him -I can fly and I will do it whenever I want- Then he raised his arms towards the sky, spread them and with a dive into the void he launched himself and we and we and we there, with our mediocrity. We were kryptonite". Two or three tracks are not enough to give a sufficient verdict on this work, even if it pains me immensely to give only two stars to an artist like Ivan; but he had produced many top-level works before, so a minor misstep can easily be forgiven. He will recover with the subsequent "Malelingue" in 1994, but that... is another story!