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The spark that ignites, the contact between the fingertips, those of the two donkeys depicted on the cover: that's what "Still Smiling" is, one of the most acclaimed albums of last year.
Born from a long-standing friendship and a working relationship between Rome and Berlin, the album is a successful union between two artists who have managed to find, between the serious (a shared artistic vision) and the playful (the pure enjoyment of working well together), more than one positive element: a communion of intents, dialogue, complementarity.
On one side, sitting in the control room, the very Italian Teho Teardo, today an established author and signer of important soundtracks, but already active in the avant-garde scene since the eighties and later the owner, among others, of the Meathead project. On the other side, behind the microphone (and the organ, the guitar, and engaging with assorted devilries), a gentleman who certainly needs no introduction.
An exceptional collaboration, although it does not attack us with the lethal grip of overwhelming surprise. It's not a novelty that Blixa Bargeld has been frequenting our parts for some time: I recall that night within the Fosfeni festival where he set up a performance of pure voice, venturing into the field of vocal experimentation, even encroaching upon shamelessly cabaret-like territories; also his reading contributions for the Societas Raffaello Sanzio theater company. Showcasing, on both occasions, good Italian. And it is precisely from these premises that the German seems to restart, aided by his diligent comrade who neatly stitches around him the perfect post-industrial soundtrack, although "Still Smiling" is the most singer-songwriter-like experience that hosted him as a singer.
The subcutaneous electronics and the arsenal of instruments (acoustic and electric guitars, bass, piano, synthesizers, percussion) that accompany them are a refined, soft, elegant attire that perfectly suits Bargeld's eccentricities. In this dialogue, Teardo's ingenuity mainly manifests on the arrangements front, a field in which the skills cultivated during soundtrack scoring can be displayed; while the German's performance retains, although in a sugar-coated form, the roughness inherited from past days as the enfant terrible of the most extremist sound terrorism (which survives in the research conducted on the vocal instrument: an approach that shifts the work from the singer-songwriter plane to a more exquisitely avant-garde level). There's enough of his Einsturzende Neubauten in "Still Smiling" (such as "Axolotl," for instance), and some trace of his tenure with the Bad Seeds ("Alone with the Moon," another example), but the peaks of lyricism touched in this latest work return a newly painted Bargeld, motivated, fresh, and capable of entertaining while also moving the emotions.
If the initial "Mi Scusi" owes all its appeal to a delightfully halting Italian and an amusing yet ultimately self-serving, if not downright insincere, text, the work will continue its journey on generally high levels, reaching significant altitudes in more than one episode, such as in "Come Up and See Me," the title track (utterly moving) and especially in "If What if...," introduced, before the explosion, by the caresses of strings and a seductive spoken part in Italian. Teardo's skill behind the scenes is indisputable, and he merits the credit for a tonic sound, never invasive, resulting from a path leading towards the shores of minimalism, yet without renouncing the temptation to thicken the sound corpus with inspired craftsmanship of avant-garde: details, preciousness, dynamics, and arrangements done as God commands. A modus operandi that results in the harmonious intersection between a sound filled with the rigor and severity, even martial, of the industrial background to which Teardo continually refers (Throbbing Gristle, Coil, the very Einsturzende Neubauten) and a chamber setup that makes extensive use of strings (the violas, violins, and cellos of Martina Bertoni, Elena De Stabile, and the Balanescu Quartet). An ideal ground for the free vocal evolutions of Blixa who can finally range far and wide, competently riding three languages (Italian, English, and obviously his mother tongue, German). This convergence of sensibilities (the meticulous, almost manuscript-like work of our compatriot; the arrogance and swaggering expressionism of the Teutonic brigand) leads to a work that in its twelve chapters can amuse and move, similarly touching the heart and the brain, creating a mix of sensations and moods (melancholy, childish candor, enthusiasm, irony, self-irony, a measured madness, etc.) so perfect as to approach "craftiness."
And it's certainly not difficult to understand why "Still Smiling" has won over the sympathies of a certain intelligentsia and the snobbiest branches of critics and the public, who greeted the work of this strange duo with enthusiasm that was perhaps too excessive: everything is in "Still Smiling," cultured and sophisticated work, yet also relatively accessible, perhaps a lure for those who want to present a certain musical taste and listening palette. And there is even a touch of scarcely concealed patriotic pride for our own Teardo who, with this work, achieves the deserved consecration, taming the beast and creating the conditions for the best possible expression of the potential of a character like Bargeld today: an authentic living legend who on one hand holds the status of one who has earned a lifetime place in music history, but who on the other shoulders a career spanning over thirty years, a burden that can weigh heavily and enervate a lot (and indeed, in recent years, Our Hero has not exactly stood out for memorable performances).
All this, as one might say, is too perfect to be true, and indeed, only at the twilight of the listening (while stadium chants hail the string of slogans reeled off at the end of "Defenestrazioni") does the suspicion arise that behind this effort there was craft and much much self-satisfaction, ultimately the confidence of hitting the pre-set target perfectly without much effort or courage. But even when this thought eventually materializes, it will already be too late: "Still Smiling" will already have won us over with its beauty.
Intelligence is sexy...
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