Patty Pravo
Occulte persuasioni

Occulte persuasioni is an album that, at the time of its release, might have seemed avant-garde, while today, having had the right fermentation time, it has a flavor, not quite bitter and not quite sweet, of something to which one would not know how to accurately attach a proper label.

"Played almost entirely by the Goblin's keyboardist, Maurizio Guarini, with the collaboration of singer-songwriter Goran Cuzminac who performs the intricate finger-picking guitar parts" (Wikipedia), overall the album possesses tonal unity, interrupted only by the title track.

Several listens don't quite allow the work to be perfectly assimilated and a certain doubt remains between considering it as something refined or something poorly assembled; dividing the blame for the bad impression between the arrangements and the melodies that, beyond the fine work they might have undergone, exude MIDI reminiscences, and the quality of the recording itself, not outstanding.

Once some asperities are overcome and their negative suggestions are set aside, there is also something good in this album.

"Per una bambola", "Amore buono", "Dolce una follia", "Viaggio" and "Occulte persuasioni" are the tracks I would save.

Excluding "Occulte persuasioni" which gives a rise towards sidereal spaces, thanks to an arrangement much richer than its sibling tracks, the other tracks on the album have a decadent atmosphere.

It is the egocentric aspect, the decadent aspect that elevates it all to literary suggestions, that saves the work.

From the first track to the last, the songs elevate a sleepy atmosphere; there's something that propels reminiscences of Des Esseintes, the character from Huysmans’ famous novel. Just as the wealthy man is inclined to satisfy his every whim, "Occulte persuasioni" is an album that implodes within its own world.

"Tutto quel che so, io lo so e non te lo dirò", you hear in "Occulte persuasioni".

"Ecco una distanza minima, impalpabile divinità, sono sola...sono sola...posso renderti partecipe, ma mi piace solo alludere; la memoria è solitudine: tu sei solo", recites the singer in "Viaggio".

Perhaps this album is not certainly a masterpiece, but if the intent is to describe the whim, I think it succeeds and I would take a little trip inside its notes, at least to breathe some rarefied air and play the incurable bohemian.