Paolo Nutini
Caustic Love

Class of '87, talent to spare and almost out of place in today's music scene. Scottish, with Tuscan origins, he debuted in 2006 with These streets, an album with elegant writing, but clearly pop, followed in 2009 by Sunny side up, a surprising and unexpected mix of folk, country, and blues that make up an album from another time and of rare beauty, also considering the very young age of the author.

In 2014, Caustic love was released, revealing Nutini's "dark" soul, from the vocals to the arrangements, all in the path of soul with funky, blues, and R&B contaminations, a synthesis between the earliest Terence Trent d'Arby and Amy Winehouse, who had started, in the new millennium, the modernization of the old R&B.

Scream (Funky my life up) is perhaps the best manifesto of this album's spirit: a full brass piece with a strong R&B flavor but an aggressive imprint, with a funky twist; the same recipe in Let me Down easy and One Day, tracks with a more relaxed and rarefied atmosphere.

Better man is the best, according to the writer, of the album: acoustic start, with a voice suspended between the mysticism of Van Morrison and the blues spirit of Ben Harper, and it quickly opens to a minimal and delicate arrangement of bass and drums, until reaching a breathtaking gospel opening, with brass, choirs, and a haunting electric guitar.

Another masterpiece is Iron Sky, an intense piece, blues with rock hues, all strings, brass, and drums; Nutini makes the track unforgettable with the inclusion of a monologue by Charlie Chaplin from "The Great Dictator", supported by electric guitar and interrupted by powerful drums and voice.

Diana is another surprise: a minimal piece, with a Jazz construction, played between bass and a few notes of electric guitar and hammond; there's even a trumpet.

Fashion and Cherry blossom pick up the funky atmospheres of Scream, in a Latin-rock sauce that recalls the best Ben Harper. Looking for something is also a track with a funky twist, but with the usual R&B groove for this work.

Someone like you closes beautifully: what a piece! Here we are in the territory of the best pop songwriting, with flavors of Roy Orbison and the Beach Boys, those masters who had the ability to put melody at the forefront, without using unnecessary notes or artifices.

This artist and this album are anachronistic today, but God only knows how much music needs young talent like this to stay alive.