Stormy Six
Al Volo

Now, the Stormy Six are the ones from Stalingrado. But don't tell me they were only that! The Milanese group, very close to the Student Movement of the seventies, was composed of highly professional musicians. After releasing a couple of primarily political albums, in the second half of the seventies, they began to develop a new way of songwriting, completely detached from the pop-folk tradition, through progressively more innovative music and lyrics.

These were the years in which the group, which had already started one of the first independent Italian entities with the cooperative L'orchestra', was among the founders of 'Rock in Opposition', a sort of European association of 'against' musicians that brought together a series of bands offering paths of particular musical research. Soon forgotten in Italy (where they remained the ones from Stalingrado), they were well known in Europe, especially in Germany where the previous album 'Macchina Maccheronica' was the rock album of the year (1980), Stormy concluded their recording career with 'Al Volo' released at the beginning of 1982.

The album represents a very interesting uniquum within our songwriter scene and manages to refine the sometimes dispersive experiments of Macchina Maccheronica, blending everything into a collection of alien but essentially accessible songs. The opening is grandiose: 'Non si sa dove stare' is probably one of the best pieces in their repertoire, music and lyrics travel together and immediately communicate the new alienation: the eighties are at the door and men are ready: "reduced to a box/ partying/ on electricity." Because: "You don't know where to stand/ sometimes you see yourself inside/ in the marble wall of the banks/ while dancing in the spy's eye."

On absolutely unusual harmonies, hermetic and metallic lyrics unfold: protagonists are solitary men, televisions, supermarkets, trains. All the pieces deserve (and require) numerous listens to be fully appreciated, but it will be worth it. Having abandoned the utopias of previous years, man is lost, folded, searching for something to move forward again. Beautiful 'Reparto Novità' where the protagonist, lost in a solitary walk, finds himself at the Department Stores: "I find myself at the Standa/ I’m not looking for anything/ checking the new releases department/ if time passes." and 'Roma' where a bit of hope emerges in verses of extraordinary intensity: I believe it was/ there/ that I dreamed that we/ shattered like windows/ and amidst the shards there was drinking/ and eating/ because life comes from the sea/ and all the trains have a scent/ of tangerines" and all the others are very valid, starting from 'Piazza degli Affari' to 'Denti' and 'Cosa Danno' dedicated to television to 'Parole Grosse' which in two verses synthesizes the sadness of the new times: "I live here/but sometimes I believe/ that living is a bit of a strong term for what we do."

A great album that resembles nothing else published in our country. A masterpiece to be rediscovered.