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Rating: SANDRO CURATOLO
"Seven Billion Words"
Self-Produced
FROM HERE YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE ALBUM
Sandro Curatolo might be autarchic. He self-produces his album in Prague (where he lives, perhaps escaping from the unbearable chaos of Rome) with a crowdfunding operation. Well, you might say, there's a lot of people who do crowdfunding. The problem is finding someone who trusts you. Curatolo, who in the past has already been noticed for his songwriting skills, has earned that trust. In the past, to be honest, with albums where the themes were almost exclusively characterized by strong social protest. Surely there are no shortage of episodes, let's say, of protest and autarchy/anarchy (because to be anarchic one must first be autarchic). "Una mattina de maggio" is a song in the Roman dialect, with strongly political content, that casts an ironic and merciless look at the contradictions of the dangerous resurgence of right-wing populism that dominates the current scene. "Viva il cioccolato", drawing on the style of Brassens' anarchic ballad, stages a curious story with a happy ending, in which a hero by chance uses his own popularity to ridicule the very power that has placed him on a pedestal. Inspired by the events of Charlie-Hebdo, it seems like a story told in an attempt to understand another, which unfortunately does not have a happy ending.
But the real focus of this new album is time. All this time that is given to us is actually, among the billions of words and things that happen, just a grain of sand. And so, with these simple ballads made of piano, voice, acoustic guitar and some string arrangements, the word, the lyrics take center stage and make us think of a river that flows, of my love that has your name. Maybe a handful of words, spoken and unspoken, whispered or shouted, are no longer a handful of things said in the flow of seven billion words, but something intimate, true, that gives real meaning to this beautiful gift, which is, indeed, the gift of speech.
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