Pacifico
Dolci frutti tropicali

It is usually said that the third album is the "acid test" for every artist. It is said to be, if successful, the one of attained maturity. The common cliché of music does not hold in cases where the artist, in this case, singer-songwriter Gino Pacifico, a Neapolitan transplanted in Milan forever, has, on his own, reached the large stage at an "advanced" age, enough to provide proof of maturity already in the second production ("Musica Leggera" 2004).

"Dolci Frutti Tropicali" was released at the dawn of 2006, the lead single "Dal Giardino Tropicale," even enters airplay right at the stroke of midnight on December 31st. It seems paradoxical that an album and a single with typically summer titles see the light between December and January, but in fact, it is not so, for those (still too few, unfortunately!) who know Pacifico's sharp personality, a juggler of words and an architect of metaphors, capable of making even sour sentiments like melancholy sweet.

Pacifico's sea is not the one depicted on the cover; right from the first notes of the album, it is clear that the beach presents overturned boats, desolation, gray clouds, and silences, but the singer-songwriter has always been a master at finding and highlighting the beauty in the ugly, not as a mere consolation prize. Thus, the somber atmospheres of this album become great existentialist meadows and pure poetry, on which Gino seems to lay words like gusts of wind, in the midst of his very particular vocal style that I would define as "whispered".

Opening with "L'incompiuta," a powerful "pianereccia" sonata, highly effective, put there to give an idea of what Pacifico is, of what his strength is: the vocal delicacy that almost clashes with the depth of his words and the perfect acoustic harmony of the tracks. "Dal Giardino Tropicale" is gentle, the rhythm doesn't waste two minutes capturing the ear, but the complexity of the arrangement never makes this track easy, yet still enjoyable even in the radio-edit. "Caffè" interrupts for a moment, trying to digest the lyrical depth with an apt morning melody. It is a pause, then a sax-bass-piano session brings the musicality of the album back to very high levels with "L'altalena," a love letter to a virtual friend that has become poetry lent to music. The pathos does not change in "L'inverno trascorre," where the instruments enter in a measured fashion, in an ascending rhythm with vaguely oriental timbres. "Da qui," "Nuvola" and "Ferro e Limatura" are certainly more frivolous episodes, though the first features a very valid duet with his friend Samuele Bersani (talent scout of Pacifico himself!), where the two voices symbolize dream and reality, in a confrontation-contrast that holds the track, sometimes cynical, sometimes carefree. "Punti Fermi" instead, is an authentic masterpiece, perhaps the classic Pacifico song, which often plays with words, frequently referring to airplanes and skies, as extensions of his thoughts, a device to talk about love and never fall into the traps of banality. "Polifemo," according to the author himself, is the most beautiful song on the album, it undoubtedly stems from an autobiographical pretext, and you can feel it even from the same tone, almost suffering, of the singer, a painter of emotions in a track also supported by a significant orchestral backdrop.
"L'elefante" (perhaps my personal favorite!) another autobiographical song, ends up being a track so rhythmically and electronically polished that it is almost not easy to capture, the depth of a sincere and vivid text. It closes with "Made in China," funny and sparkling, and brilliant in its own being.

Compared to the first albums, Gino gives up much of the electronics, rediscovering orchestral phases and acoustic arrangements, already experimented with in the beautiful "Musica Leggera". The lyrical style has not changed at all, it has not been trimmed of metaphors and rhetorical figures of high poetry, and indeed, appears in certain parts enriched with further elegance and experience. In summary, the album is truly exceptional, perhaps not easy to listen to, but on the other hand, Pacifico's beauty is also this, being elite without wanting to be.