Riccardo Sinigallia
Ciao Cuore

2014 was, in all likelihood, the year zero for Riccardo Sinigallia: eight years of discographic silence, a suitcase full of experiences with seemingly light specific gravity, a strong crisis, both economic and artistic, that led him to sell his instruments and think of leaving the music world forever.
A true annus horribilis that would have buried anyone. But if you're a songwriter, you can make flowers bloom from the worst of your muck.
And thus comes out “Per tutti”, one of the best Italian albums of the year. An album that exudes sincerity, suffering, and authenticity, spiced with jabs at the music showbiz world that had abandoned him.
The following four years were filled with the usual productions and collaborations, a few intimate live performances here and there, and the usual media silence that has always characterized him.

The result of this period is called “Ciao cuore” and it is his fourth solo album, in fifteen years of career (from which one can deduce the reason why Riccardo doesn't get along with the commercial side of music). A cover decidedly better than the previous one, vaguely reminiscent of Baustelle's style.
Nine tracks, a little over half an hour. Compared to “Per tutti”, Riccardo Sinigallia significantly trims his music of synths in favor of guitars, renouncing those long progressive tracks (“Per tutti”, “E invece io”), returning to a more purely song form, but not for this reason more predictable.
Tracks that range from the most classic of his ballads (“Ciao cuore”, eponymous single; “A cuor leggero”; “Bella quando vuoi”) to more ambitious musically (the gritty “Dudù”, the high Reedian guitars in “Le donne di destra”) and socially (“Che male c’è”, written together with Valerio Mastrandrea, on the story of Federico Aldrovandi), without any missteps.

Talking individually about the tracks of an album like this makes little sense, because it's an album built and assembled all in one piece, more than the previous one. It's an album that marks the definitive maturation of an artist too mistreated by the public and critics, an artist who continues to recreate and reinvent himself with each release.
An artist in continuous search of his sound, experimentation, and never the easy radio hit.
“Ciao cuore” arrives without making noise, without proclamations or any sort of media advertising campaigns, in full style of the Roman author, who likes to work quietly, sing with his head down and maintain a low profile, thus keeping burdensome pressures and spotlight away.
The fact remains that, after the magnificent “Per tutti”, the confirmation has come that we are facing one of the most beautiful Italian realities, an old-school songwriter, who prefers to get his hands dirty rather than speak in front of a microphone. A songwriter who "hasn't lost the enthusiasm of the first times" and who is not afraid to dare and put himself back in the game, something more unique than rare nowadays, who knows his musical times and knows how to respect them. And if we have to wait another four years for a follow-up, we are sure that they will be well-spent years.
Until next time Riccardo, we wait for you with open arms, mouth, ears, and lungs.