Pinguini Tattici Nucleari
Fuori Dall'Hype

The band Pinguini Tattici Nucleari hails from Bergamo, and my first listen was suggested to me by a guy who barely knows me and is completely clueless about my musical tastes, on a date that wasn't exactly random: last April 5th, what I later discovered to be their fourth album was released, their first with a major label (Sony Music, I might add...), but more importantly, it marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the day the rock anti-hero Kurt Donald Cobain knocked on the doors of the "27 Club".

Now, if the level of familiarity between me and the aforementioned guy had been at least sufficient, I probably would have had the means to deduce that a name as cheeky as "Pinguini Tattici Nucleari" couldn't belong to anyone other than some outlandishly indie band, and I probably wouldn't even be here talking about it now.
Instead, just as sometimes confiding in a stranger turns out to be easier than opening up to a longtime friend, it was almost natural for me to follow the tip, open YouTube, and go listen to this "Fuori dall’Hype", only to discover that there’s not much indie in the broad sense on this album, perhaps only the vocalist Riccardo Zanotti's pronunciation flaw.
Because as far as I'm concerned, with the exception of a limited number of tracks, this 10-track piece has the flavor of good Italian music, the tenderness of Cocciante and Concato, the kind that if you close your eyes while listening, you find yourself back in the car behind mom and dad, still smelling the car freshener and the rustle of the cassette in the tape player between songs.

The substantial difference is that these six musicians have an average age so low it’s almost embarrassing, a fact that helps not to be too surprised when the dance between the notes of a very delicate piano and timid guitar chords brings the eponymous opening track to the verse that reads "But what do they want to know/of what happiness is/that they don't listen to Battisti/and don't put onion in their kebab".

Just as the next track, "Antartide", which sounds as if it came out of Venditti’s repertoire while narrating the transition to adulthood of a young woman today from the perspective of a contemporary young man: "When you were small, you waited for a letter from Hogwarts/to show all your companions that you were the one different from them [...]stealing grapes at the MD and drawing rainbows over Pinochet".

"Lake Washington Boulevard" is not what it seems, but the heart skips a beat when "A shot will be heard in the distance/then the sound of an ambulance/and I won’t be there anymore"
(coincidences, the "27 club" guy... remember?).

"Monopoli" seduces with the phrasing between a languid guitar borrowed from the late Pino Daniele and an inspired and reassuring bass, before "Nonono" steps in to lighten the mood with its beach vibe, carefree harmonies, and a chorus that invites you to move your hips without thinking too much about it.

"Scatole" is the most intimate confession of a young man dealing with an experience common to all musicians in the phase of youth, like the clash of views, values, and priorities between parents and children.
And when it’s not the amusing references to post-’80s pop culture, the incredible overall technical abilities or compositional skills, it is Riccardo who supports the entire track with the personality of someone who has more to tell than his age suggests, around which the intense accompanying guitar and strings can only form a backdrop.

"Sashimi" is the track with the strongest killer instinct in the entire album, thanks to a funky vibe that wins you over at the first hint of bass and explodes in a chorus full of synths and drum machines.
The tones become light again as the usual Erasmus project mocks a relationship between two young lovers and sets off his wandering song to an all-you-can-eat waiter.
Stuff that makes you want to leave your earphones on.

"The Banality of the Sea" is an episode that, to be honest, goes pretty unnoticed, while the single with its accompanying video clip "Verdura" serves as a manifesto for an album written with no dirty ulterior motives, in which the enormous execution skills of the musicians keep pace with an extraordinarily meticulous, punctual, and precise production without being intrusive for this reason.

"Freddie" is the sign where to draw the line: the story of a homosexual love lived without looking around too much, marked by one’s flixbus travels to reach the other, and where the only concern is not to disturb the consciousness of their respective families.

Well, I am not a music critic nor a technician, the way I experience and enjoy music has more to do with a sense of belonging to a movement, adherence to a message and attitude rather than unconsciously tapping my foot to some radio-friendly tune.
Songwriting, then, I leave to those who truly know how to handle the subject with conscious knowledge.
Yet, I have the feeling that "Fuori dall’Hype" could somehow serve as a battering ram for those like me who feel the need to break down the wall separating from the rest of the world, everything that is "pop" (whatever that means) and take a peek beyond the barricade.
Pinguini Tattici Nucleari demonstrate that you can be as entertaining as Lo Stato Sociale but with a solid conscience, that you can listen to music like Francesco Gabbani’s and simultaneously enjoy an authentic, honest, non-approximate poetic experience.

Because at 24, these Penguins are perfectly at ease telling others' stories as if they had collected their own for a century.
Italian music is alive.
Long live Italian music.