Modena City Ramblers
Dopo Il Lungo Inverno

Unfortunately, I must start the review with a sad premise: this group resembles the Modena City Ramblers less and less.

Too many things have changed: the lineup has changed, as the historically iconic voice of Cisco has taken the path of a solo career and has been replaced by a new pair of singers, "Dudu" and "Betty", who, while always up to the task, have yet to win over the hearts of the most nostalgic fans, and who knows if they ever will; the underlying idea has changed, the principle on which the band's work was once based: whereas in the past the music was played to communicate anger and energy, to entertain and to dance, now it seems they have reached a point of great reflection, probably also due to the band's newfound maturity and awareness, which perhaps no longer has the strength to tackle the same topics with the energy of the past, no longer has that enthusiasm in telling stories of travels and faraway people that so enriched previous albums, and above all, there is no longer any trace of the freshness and characteristic musical zest of the early MCR.

The sixteen tracks of 'Dopo Il Lungo Inverno' trudge forward one after another with heavy steps, in a slow, almost weary manner, between romanticism and melancholy, between distance and pain. When I heard the album's title, 'Dopo Il Lungo Inverno', I thought of an album of hope, of regained trust, of cheerfulness; but after several listens, the feeling is that of having in hand a record steeped in almost resigned sadness and disappointment. The few cheerful and fast tracks on the album, those inspired by the lively Celtic ballads like the opener "In Quel Giorno a Primavera", seem forcibly inserted into an unsuitable context, bring no novelty, are musically naive and above all give the impression of being little inspired, little felt, and inevitably not very impactful.

For the rest, the album offers various digressions into exotic, oriental-like music, tribal rhythms, and almost reggae fragments, such as in the beautiful finale of "Il Paese Delle Meraviglie". The traditional tracks in Modenese dialect are not missing, now more descriptive and light than ever, witnesses of the band's strong bond with their land. It's nice to note how in certain lyrics that evocative poetic vein remains, although always less dreamy, which the MCR use to communicate ideas and passions: it's timid and choked, but always powerful the cry with which they take a stand against wars, against suffering and against indifference, in slow and tearless pieces like "Oltre La Guerra e La Paura", "Le Strade Di Crowford" and "Mala Sirena".

The overall feeling upon listening is that 'Dopo Il Lungo Inverno' is an ultimately pleasant work, but not very characteristic, too impersonal for a band whose trademark has been unmistakable for years: perhaps the Modena City Ramblers had an ambitious project in mind, many ideas translated into music in a manner not entirely and not always successful, and, as mentioned, with some forced efforts.

It's clear that from a band like them, something different was to be expected, something that could indeed renew the musical experience of the group but at the same time would not accentuate this slow and inexorable distancing from their historical identity, that magical identity that made them unique and perhaps unrepeatable... but maybe now they too are becoming just a beautiful memory...