Sodastream
A Minor Revival

THROUGH THE MILANO STORMS
Or sensations of rain at a minor revival

I'm in the car, a very modest Micra, and I insert into my CD player (I had to update myself a few months ago too) "A Minor Revival" by Sodastream, released in 2003. It's not raining, but listening to this record I pretend it's raining. I'm in a little village with a few wooden houses... ok, I live in Milan and now I'm in the traffic of the ring road, and the Milan ring road at rush hour is not EXACTLY a mountain village, but listening to this record I pretend it is. I'm not pretending, it's that with Sodastream in my mind everything transforms, and the sky is softly crying its sweetest tears, and it's early morning where the leaves in the meadows are wet with dew, or it's twilight, where the sky wipes its tears with clouds that look like zabaglione and the rays filter through the trees and the roofs of these wooden huts.

The Sodastream are Karl Smith and Pete Cohen, they are one of the many neo-acoustic revival bands, no more and no less talented than many others, but I follow and particularly appreciate them because one: I discovered them together with Mercury Rev watching a live show on MTV one evening when I was very bored, two: they know how to speak (and for me also astonish) with few means, a voice a bit Corgan a bit cotton candy, a very clear acoustic guitar, and a slightly bitter double bass (sometimes a bit possessed).
For some years, they have been crafting sophisticated albums that are very similar but always pleasant, and I am ready to assert that this latest one is even more interesting than the previous one "A Hill For The Company".
Why?
Because in addition to the sweet melancholy of "Brass lines", "Chorus line" and "Horses", there's the refined pop of "Out", "Otherwise Open" and "America". And from the beginning, we have splendid and quick bursts of sunshine like "Blinky" and "Undone", then come the bitter tears and desperate cries of "Constant Ships", "The Women's Revue" and "Weekend".

In short, I don't like to express myself in clichés, but I think I am effective in saying that every song on this album is a delicate pearl and, of course, precious. The atmosphere that these two guys, with the help of a backing vocalist, saxophone, viola, piano, and percussion, create is truly warm, soft... very lovable. This is the perfect record to listen to when it rains and you're driving in the mountains, or in front of the fireplace while watching the fog stretch over the moor.

from "Brass Lines"
"...thru the Milano storms and the blossoms thru the week
i saw this battle born, i was holding you in the street
ended by my house, 'cause a red light's warm indeed..."

Rating: 5/5. Well done!