Nina Zilli
Sempre Lontano

"Thanks to Nina Simone for the warrior spirit, Alton Ellis and the chills of his beautiful singing, Otis Redding for every note he sang..."

A cosmopolitan girl, with a childhood divided between Italy, Ireland, and the United States, capable of making her own a part of the culture of every place that hosted her. From her motherland, she takes atmospheres and musicality from the 1960s songbook, from Ireland (where she spends her childhood) she learns to navigate the Italian-English language duality, an element that will become characteristic in her singing; finally, the United States, the most important stop for her musical training, where she embraces certain soul and rhythm & blues sounds. Despite performing in public for over a decade, she only lands a record deal in 2010, following the success of a handful of singles released a year earlier: above all "50mila", sung in duet with her friend Giuliano Palma, whose success was boosted by the choice of Turkish director Ozpetek to include it in the soundtrack of the film "Mine Vaganti". Thus, the by-now twenty-seven-year-old Maria Chiara Fraschetta presents herself to the general public as Nina Zilli, paying tribute to the renowned Nina Simone by pairing her name with her mother's surname.

Preceded by her appearance at Sanremo, where the singer wins awards not linked to the obstinacy of televoting, "Sempre Lontano" is released on February 19. The album collects the singles released throughout 2009, with the addition of a handful of other compositions to complete the picture: what emerges is an album dripping with a soul sometimes tinged with R&B, sometimes with reggae, dominated by the powerful and intense voice of Nina.

There are twelve tracks on the list, mostly focused on the theme of love, ranging from the pure rhythm & blues of "Il paradiso" to the reggae of "Penelope", recorded together with the Smoke, all seasoned with some ballads, like "C'era una volta" and the Sanremo song "L'uomo che amava le donne". Also appearing are the remake of "You Can't Hurry Love", the legendary Supremes hit reborn in Italian in all its liveliness, and "No Pressure", an incursion into the language of Albion. Musically, the production by Zilli herself, assisted secondly by Carlo Rossi and Jeeba, stands out, creating a compact atmosphere based primarily on the fullness and depth of the sound produced by the rhythm section, enriched by the constant interventions of the brass, velvety strings, and the Hammond organ, as suits the best soul tradition.

It is certainly not a perfect album, some songs could have been polished, and the singer from Piacenza doesn't invent anything new: like a good cook, she uses known ingredients to cook a dish already tasted but combines them so well as to entice another portion.

If you have 11 euros to spend on an album, bet on this breath of fresh air: you might rediscover the pleasure of buying an album on the strength of one song without knowing its entire content.

And in this case, your expectations will not be disappointed.