Scisma
Rosemary Plexiglas

It is with a bit of fear and reverence that the DeReviewer sets out to write about this milestone in Italian rock history, marked by the paradox of being one of the most influential albums in the Italian indie rock scene of the last decade and at the same time one of the least known. Rosemary Plexiglas is one of those debut albums that when you listen to it, you already know it will remain unsurpassed in the artist's career because perfection is by definition not improvable.

So we find ourselves in 1997, the Italian rock scene shows decisive signs of recovery after years of lethargy, bands like Marlene Kuntz and Afterhours are gaining their first recognitions. Scisma, on their first official trial after self-produced “Pezzetini di Carta” and “Bombardano Cortina”, debut even for a major (EMI) with the artistic production of their mentor Manuel Agnelli. Already an unusual band in its composition, which includes an equal number of men and women, among whom Paolo Benvegnù (guitar, second voice and true artistic soul of the group) and Sara Mazo (lead voice) stand out.

Rosemary Plexiglas for its part is an album entirely played on contrasts. The contrast between the neurotic riffs of electric guitars contained by the balance of keyboards and samplers; the contrast between the noise of “Completo”, “PSW" and “84” and the decidedly catchy rock of “Negligenza”, “Videoginnastica”, “L’equilibrio”; the contrast between the measured and introverted voice of Paolo Benvegnù and the exuberant vocal heights of Sara Mazo.
The moments that best assimilate these contrasts are also the true masterpieces of the album: “Rosemary Plexiglas” and “Loop 43”, in which the guitar and vocal involutions of Benvegnù alternate seamlessly with Mazo's sparkling singing and string orchestrations.
The dreamlike and surreal lyrics (“I have no fears because I am closing all the doors, it reinvigorates the youthful spirit playing cards, I do not recommend Flaubert I resemble Marat a bit”) will become Scisma's trademark and find their peak in this album in “PSW” and “Svecchiamento”.

The splendid adventure will, alas, be short-lived. There will be time for an EP (“Vive le Roi”) and for another album (“Armstrong”) three years later, after which the band will dissolve. Benvegnù will become an appreciated producer (Perturbazione among others) and will continue as a soloist to compose excellent music, albeit remaining one of the most underrated artists on the Italian scene. Many others, including Sara Mazo, will definitively leave the world of music, and the list of those who miss them is still very long.