Litfiba
Guerra (EP)

LA RECENSIONE

Litfiba was formed in Florence at the end of '80, from the meeting between guitarist Federico "Ghigo" Renzulli, bassist Gianni Maroccolo, drummer Francesco Calamai, and keyboardist Antonio Aiazzi. The first (instrumental) track is "A Satana". It will be Antonio who convinces then-high school student Piero Pelù (whom Maroccolo will describe as: "someone who dressed in black, with made-up eyes, and who wandered among the cemeteries and punks of Florence") to join the group.

The first concert takes place on 8/12/80 (the day of Lennon's death) at Rockoteca Brighton. In the following 2 years, the group will perform many concerts around Italy and Europe, also alongside other bands like Diaframma and Neon. The chance to showcase themselves comes with the 2nd edition of the Italian Festival Rock in Bologna, which they win. The prize is the opportunity to record an EP, which is what I am about to review. This EP is the very first testament of one of the most important Italian bands, and the original is practically impossible to find. All the tracks are not of great musical value, but poetic. The influences are mainly from groups like Killing Joke, Tuxedomoon, Stranglers, X, and David Bowie.

After a keyboard intro comes "Guerra", supported by bass and drums (which play almost the same notes throughout the song), on which keyboards, guitar, and Piero's still raw and inexperienced voice are layered ("Guardo, oltre il muro di vetro, l'esercito che passa, uomini neri/ Cerco, in una mano chiusa, la causa della morte, di uomini neri"). Around the middle of the track, the bass gives an acceleration to the rhythm simultaneously with a guitar solo. The second song is "Luna", performed in other versions later, and here with a slightly different text, where an overwhelming chorus with guitar and bass in evidence leads to the finale where Piero exclaims "Sarò re e un dittatore". "Under the Moon", sung in English, begins with a murmuring of bass and background voices to culminate in a beautiful wave-song with great keyboard work. The following song, "Man in Suicide", is also in English.

One is struck by the drums, which obsessively repeat the same sound in the verses, and generally by the whole atmosphere of the song, almost funeral-like. The chorus is more conventional but always very calm and sad; the ending is entrusted to a solo and the bass. The last track is the instrumental "E. F. S. 44", an experiment combining dark atmospheres, menacing voices, and psychedelia, but it doesn't seem entirely successful.