Max Gazzé
Sotto Casa

Having reached his eighth album, we can safely say that Max Gazzè is an artist in slow and steady maturation, and his music improves with the years. Certainly, from him, we can no longer expect the sensational blow, a record that remains in history, if any are still released: Max is a gifted musician and a good composer, but almost twenty years since his record debut, it is reasonable to think that he does not have that touch of genius necessary to immortalize his talent. And Sotto Casa meets expectations, between enthusiasm and (little) disappointment.

Fortunately, breaking the comfortable monotony of his production is the tone, never as personal as in this case, of the lyrics. Except for the brilliant title track and the tortuous and less successful Atto di Forza, the themes of the album are all centered on the difficulties of a romantic relationship, in fact, ended. That there is a strong connection with Gazzè's experiences is evidenced by the family events of recent years and the full-time involvement of his brother Francesco, probably thought to be more suitable for the task. Already from the initial E Tu Vai Via, there is little room for misunderstanding, just under three minutes of simple outburst, with a bitter and polemical text towards a woman who voluntarily left her partner. The reasons for the abandonment are reiterated again in La Mia Libertà, where the dynamics of the couple that led to the breakup are hinted at. A song in some ways astonishing, with a driving rhythm and an unusually high tone singing, that if it had been by Modà, Italian radios would have crucified us until the end of summer.

I Tuoi Maledettissimi Impegni doesn’t deviate from the norm, rejected at Sanremo, it's yet another homage from Gazzè to the teaching of the great duo Battisti/Panella, so much so that it seems like a luxury leftover from La Sposa Occidentale (1990), with its linguistic contortions, acrobatic rhymes, and broken prepositions: because if the lyricist did not foresee the length of the line, must a great verse be thrown overboard? And Francesco and Max are attentive and diligent students.

If we want to spot other novelties, it is mandatory to mention the closing L’Amore Di Lilith which would have not been out of place from the mouth of Ferretti of CSI. A cryptic text and a compact layering of sounds refer us to the events of Lilith, a female demon linked to storm, disease, and death; just in case we were misunderstood.

Then let me make a very personal ovation to the Sanremo piece Sotto Casa. It rarely happens to hear a track that smells of history from the first words and whose crystal-clear melody seems never to tire you. Dulcis in fundo: the orchestral accompaniment in Battiato's style, which Gazzè uses with taste and intelligence, to embellish an album that once again we cannot regret having purchased.