Luca Carboni
Carovana

THE REVIEW

Fitting allegory, "Carovana" is an album that makes you travel rather uncomfortably through the paths of consciousness. The purpose of the journey is obviously the journey itself, but some reflections come very close to a foundational philosophy and project us towards interiority and feeling, discarding along the way the ballast of material objects and comfortable hypocrisy. 

The vehicle that Carboni makes us travel on is the songwriting stripped of all embellishment: you won’t find long intros or great effects, nor emphasis, nor shouted words, but only low tones and intensity; the tracks cover various styles but always maintain a "low profile" and a homemade sensation.
The lyrics are, of course, direct and simple, and here Carboni's ability to tackle big themes (love, justice, family) with words from everyday language is highlighted by the simplicity of the arrangements.

The first track lays bare this bold choice: the mixing is truly neglected, the singing is rough, the song structure is extremely linear. The heart of the album is tracks 2 to 5. "Le ragazze" is an ironic rock piece about adolescence and summer; "Colori" is the true gem of the album, a painful search for the key to understand our partner’s feelings, a poignant and clear ballad among arpeggios and muted choruses; "Ferite" offers instead a particular chord progression under a repetitive melody, while the rhythm section sustains the continuity of a committed and breathless sung text; "Macedonia polare" is purely a divertissement, complete with samba rhythm and wordplay.
The other tracks are divided between experiments, good insights undeveloped, and some not particularly successful pieces.

The album ends and you disembark from the Carovana, which continues its journey towards an unspecified destination; the sensation that remains, the message proposed between doubts and hypotheses, concerns the intrinsic beauty of things, the essentiality of love, the futility of money and power in the face of the cycle of life. A cover drawing made by Luca Carboni himself depicting a pregnant woman embraced by her partner perfectly symbolizes the great meaning of this discreet album.