Nadie
Acqua alta a Venezia

Acqua alta a Venezia arrives for the Catanese Nadiè (Giovanni Scuderi- voice and guitar-, Vincenzo Battaglia -piano and synth-, Alfio Musumeci-drums-, Gianpiero Leone -bass-, Francesco Gueli -guitars) a full 8 years after their debut with Questo giorno il prossimo anno. A considerable interval, marked by a long live activity, highlighted by their victory at the national festival Il rock è Tratto (in Savignano sul Rubicone) in 2011, after which they opened the first date for the Afterhours summer tour.

The first album was characterized by a rock-singer-songwriter dialectic. In Acqua alta a Venezia the doubt is definitely resolved in favor of the former.

Afterhoursian in origin, perhaps following the encounter on stage with Manuel Agnelli's band, both in the singing and in certain guitar riffs, is the initial Conigli. The thread running through the verses without a chorus, a strong but ambiguous feeling, does remind one of certain themes of the Milanese band, albeit softened in the sung images.

Solo in Italia si applaude ai funerali features a refrain that becomes a mantra over bass lines, while ruthlessly targeting the Italian tendency to applaud, to always hail something (“sempre viva qualcosa” sang Zen Circus a few years ago), even in moments when silence would be more appropriate, like in front of a coffin.

The guitars crumble like the relationship between the protagonists in La bionda degli Abba, leading directly to the partial change in sound register of Breve esistenza di un metallaro. A piano intro reminiscent of the Beatles in Let it be accompanies the world of a fragile soul “too young to live”.

Dio è chitarrista, with references to Battiato (“He plays barefoot at concertswears dark glassesenhancing the symptomatic mysteryof see and don't see”), sharp riffs bring a smile. The title track is full of good intentions but ends up being overly pretentious. A generational theme like the father-son relationship should be handled without the platitudes of invective on the use of social media and “o tempora o mores”.

The closing is entrusted to Bandiere a mezz`asta, which manages to describe certain modern drifts more effectively than Acqua alta a Venezia, and is also more engaging sonically, with its ups and downs on the guitar pedal and alternated with arpeggios.

Overall the album is a good work, but in the future Nadiè will need to avoid falling into the traps of rhetoric and also aim for more impactful singles, for songs that stick more strongly to the brain and heart.