Renato Zero
Autoritratto

Renato Zero. That is: an enormous and tireless voice, one of the most significant linguistic skill sets in the Italian pop music scene, top-notch musicians constructing almost always interesting and moving musical patterns.

And all this is also Autoritratto, the latest work from the Bard of Montagnola, celebrating 50 years since the release of the first LP, No, mamma no!

Thirteen songs for fifty minutes, meant to be listened to in one go, as each song connects to the next like pieces of a mosaic.

After the massive work Zerosettanta, 39 unreleased tracks, a slap to recording industry logic, and Atto di fede, the first musical-editorial project, Renato proves he is still riding the wave, always with his Tactic, with which he has been self-producing for 22 years, since La curva dell'angelo, while IndipendenteMente has been handling distribution for exactly ten years, since the times of the two Amo chapters.

Coming to the new album, I listened to it all in one go, and it was truly an engaging and passionate journey. Light.

The album does not reach an average of 4 minutes per track, thus remaining around 50 minutes in total, as already mentioned.

My favorites are Quel bellissimo niente, Non ti cambierei, also released as a single, Zero a Zero, La ferita, and Vita.

Here and there, there are overwhelming solos of guitar or sax, but the instrument that reigns supreme is undoubtedly the piano.

Renato goes big for the Christmas holidays, and just as there is a track for the festivities, Perennemente bianco, there is no lack of the album's packaging in four different versions, a move he has already used in recent works.

I give Autoritratto 4 stars. Renato is here, you can see and hear him.