Paolo Cattaneo
L'Equilibrio Non Basta

PAOLO CATTANEO: "L'Equilibrio Non Basta"
The Gentle Breath of New Songwriting

New year, new album for the indie label OmarGru. This time it's Paolo Cattaneo's turn: a polyinstrumentalist composer from Brescia, he debuted in '97 with "L'Anima Del Cipresso", worked on theater and music contamination, opened concerts for Cesare Basile, Perturbazione, Hugo Race (ex-Bad Seeds) and with the participation of the latter published "Nero EP" in 2004. He returns in 2007 with a new album, "L'Equilibrio Non Basta", a testament to further maturity and compositional originality.
The pop start of "Incastri" is misleading, but only for a short while, because from this first song we already get a general idea of what the album will be like, with its delicate inserts of classically inspired horns, filtered and barely hinted voice, ambient electronics. "Neurovegetale" brilliantly mixes the jazz inspirations of piano and double bass with the profusion of alienating and electric sounds. What strikes about Paolo Cattaneo's quirky and minimal songwriting are precisely the solutions that make the evolution of his songs unexpected, particularly the skillful use of electronic bases and bass that often intertwine to create light and shimmering carpets on which the intimacy of the lyrics moves, with contributions from writer Giovanni Peli. The compositions grow in a delicate and unusual way, reminiscent of sunlight filtered through silk curtains. The electric guitar is distilled with a soft rarity, sometimes the violin of Michele Gazich (collaborator and producer of Massimo Bubola) insinuates itself. Like a tissue paper airplane lifted by currents, Cattaneo's work moves away dizzyingly from pop music ("Col Mio Ritmo") and heads towards areas reminiscent of sound design for video installations ("Infinito") thanks to enveloping waves of soft, vague, essential sounds.
I leave to you the pleasure of discovering other singular suggestions that come to life in listening to "L'Equilibrio Non Basta", an excellent accompaniment for this winter that isn't much of a winter.

"I know my dreams are just two chords" (Neurovegetale)