If for male musical artists, of whom the world is full, there are very few I adore more than myself, the same cannot be said for female singer-songwriters. My personal music collection is full of them, from the greats like Lisa Germano, Suzanne Vega, Carole King, Kate Bush, Bjork to the more commercial ones (among which I reluctantly now include Tori Amos... I admit, we have lost her, as happened with Morrisette.) In this beautiful musical harem of mine, where I don't even disdain the exceptional, even if pop, performers with a powerful voice, there are really very few little Italian gems, and what's more, they are poorly treated right within this virtual space... Names like Carmen Consoli, a brilliant singer-songwriter too often labeled as a fake intellectual, or the Elisa of "Asile World" and "Then Comes The Sun" (not the current, trashy interpreter of Italian pop) or the admirable L'aura, or the talented Marina Rei and Paola Turci (incredibly my Cristina Donà was saved), are indeed insulted daily. Apparently, it is not possible here to create lines of demarcation; everything is compared with everything (pop with metal, melodic with rock, and so on) without precise cataloging of genres and times.

So, I take the review of this album as a challenge, always beautiful, even though a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then (bringing to my ear the discovery of the talented Patrizia Laquidara, mentioned by Parigi in an interview).

"In differenze" is an album that has its beating heart, its raison d'être in the denunciation of today's miserable daily life. The intelligent lyrics, written in collaboration with the Sicilian songwriter Kaballà, brought to life by Susanna's splendid voice (which often accompanies herself not only with the piano but also with the accordion) create small canvases in the air, evoking the most diverse and disparate atmospheres. The cornerstone of the album is undoubtedly the beautiful "Opera Buffa". This extremely theatrical piece, both in its musical advance and almost clownish interpretation, is a perfect prologue, a dazzling start ("I laugh at History/ I laugh at memory/ I laugh and don't buy/ and the system swallows me/ I laugh at the horror/ of the new economy/ it's an opera buffa"). Nonetheless, it remains the best among all the pieces presented.

Besides speaking playfully in this small and delicate divertissement, Susanna more clearly denounces her framing within the masses and the superficiality that reduces us all to mere numbers, in the beautiful "42.3%", the ugliness of prejudices and erroneous beliefs in the title track, or the horror of this reality made up of silicone showgirls and entertainment in the beautiful "False" written in collaboration with the philosopher Umberto Galimberti. But this album is not just a reflexive sigh to make us think about what surrounds us.....

There is time also for sex, for love, for that sensual parenthesis within the sweet "Amada" or the intriguing "Amore che mi invita", because a woman is made of sensuality......

There is time for play and nursery rhymes, even if with sad content, as is evident in "Cinì Cinì", which in the seemingly childish text contains much more...

There is the pain of loss in the moving "La Fatica e La Pazienza"... a beautiful dedication to a father now distant, where a delicate bond torn perhaps too soon is evident... But death is something we will have to reckon with sooner or later...

Life, a Buffa and disorienting opera, is permeated by each of these many aspects, in which one finds oneself confused, searching, as Susanna also tells us, for a "perfect space," all our own, to cling to.

Tracklist and Videos

01   Opera buffa (03:26)

02   La fatica e la pazienza (03:31)

03   Amada (05:11)

04   Più grandi di Dio (04:21)

05   In differenze (04:19)

06   Una porta nel tempo (03:26)

07   Amore che m'invita (03:25)

08   Di spazio perfetto (04:42)

09   False (03:17)

10   Dall'anima al corpo (03:54)

11   Una stagione all'inferno (04:09)

12   42,3% (04:24)

13   Le valigie che lasci (02:42)

14   Cinì cinì (05:47)

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