Marlene Kuntz
S - Low

THE REVIEW

There are quite a few times when strange thoughts cross my mind... Things like "How can we be so similar to each other?"... "But what does that girl find so exciting in my being? I'm just a normal guy, and on top of that, a bit shabby-looking with a political-social ideology different from most of my peers..." Bah! Mysteries of life. However, the dilemma that will never have an answer is this: "How did man evolve so much?" I mean... once there were horses and carriages, now there are cars! In the 1700s in Europe, there were wars against absolute rule and the impossibility of social progress, basically, to achieve something there was only war... Now the political system is quite precise and we find every electronic gadget capable of solving your problems (maybe, indeed, surely, not all)...

But if we reflect a bit, we realize that deep down nothing has completely changed, of course... Civilization has modernized, but the essence is more or less the same... We always want more and are never satisfied...

Thinking about all this reminds me of a comparison with a band from my province... The beloved Marlene Kuntz, they have evolved, from extremely hard alternative rock with scorching lyrics to starting the search for perfection, a clean sound, and texts intertwined with a touch of poetry. However, the origins are the point where everything was born... And they cannot be erased, they can sometimes be FORGOTTEN, but not ERASED.

In Marlene’s albums, we notice more and more an attempt to leave the beginning behind, which is, however, always lurking... In "Bianco Sporco" we find "Nel Peggio" and in "Uno" there is "111"... Examples of how everything transforms... But nothing is destroyed... Even the concerts changed... No more amplifiers at full blast... No more wild pogo under the stage. Instead, Cristiano's voice is sweet and low, the amplification halved for arpeggiated and no longer noisy guitars.

The project in question was named S - Low tour and is documented in this magnificent live CD. Of course... Hearing a "Lieve" start without the noise of a distorted guitar can unsettle the listener, but the emotion is immense, Godano with that slow, articulate voice creates a great pathos with the audience. Less successful is "Danza", where a bit of the original atmosphere is lost. Two moments to shake things up are "Ti Giro Intorno" and "Fuoco su di te", where the group shows they can still play powerfully, and the frontman proves with his voice that he still has a bit of anger in his body... What a pleasant sensation finally hearing "La canzone che scrivo per te" all in Italian with an emotional and appropriately agonized voice! The moments that could easily be placed in our songwriting tradition are "Serrande Alzate" and "Infinità", exceptional and with an involved audience. "Amen" is superb. Perfect in every detail. "L'Inganno" also features improvisation, a piece that shifts from slow and rhythmic to pure noise rock thanks to heavily distorted guitars.

We return to calm shores with the splendid "Come Stavamo Ieri", an appetizer to the two masterpieces of the work... "Schiele Lei, Me" strikes the nervous cells in a very sweet way, between high and low voice tones... "Nuotando nell'Aria" is tormented, truly breathtaking, the listener won't be able to remove it from the stereo...

Nothing is destroyed, Everything transforms... This is the principle that emerges once this record is listened to...