The Cranberries
Uncertain (EP)

THE REVIEW

When you reach a certain level of knowledge and love for certain artists, acquired through official releases, you often come to the desire to know the unofficial ones, or those only partially so, fully aware that their value is nine times out of ten lower than the standard our idols have accustomed us to; but that fascination exerted by the records, which we almost never manage to obtain through "legally" considered normal means, and for which we often spend long time waiting for the electronic mule or another emergency animal to come to our aid with a more or less quick journey, the fascination exerted by their poor, misty, almost transcendent production at times, is unattainable, and constitutes a proof of love, reciprocal, our everlasting devotion to those who give us those notes, and them, unconsciously, towards us, their subjects.

Personally, I have often found myself making this reasoning and this process regarding groups of extreme metal, such as Ulver, Katatonia, Burzum, Solstafir, Einherjer; but loving enormously this Irish pop-rock band, and far from the folk standards that characterize most of the Irish ensembles (for the exception, in any case, listen to "Desperate Andy" on "Bury the Hatchet" and compare how similar it is to, say, "Blackbirds and Thrushes" by Niamh Parsons), I couldn't help but recently set out in search of this first work after the Cranberries took this name following the transition from the old monicker "Cranberry Saw Us".

I must say that a good part of the love I feel towards these four musicians is however dedicated to the singer, the immense Dolores Eileen O'Riordan (oh-reer-dehn, not o-ryòrdan, as unfortunately is often pronounced), a native of Ballybricken (province of Munster, county of Limerick), almost thirty-nine years old today, with a voice capable of ranging from the sweetness of "You and Me", to the (self)destructive violence of "Salvation", to the darkness of the overly famously "Zombie", to the perfect pop without a trace of sellout of "Linger"; from a terrible past where she came close to alcoholism, pills to fight insomnia, anorexia, depression, perhaps suicide; from an incredible ability to involve, not only with the already mentioned immense vocal skills and the ability to transition in a single album from the boisterous cheerfulness of "Just my Imagination" to themes of pedophilia as in "Fee Fi Fo", but also thanks to the infamous and unmissable stage movements (the other day at the Capannelle Hippodrome I think I risked a heart attack...). Well, the story, the pain, the despair of a very young O'Riordan already appear here, in this incredible half-masterpiece, strongly immature, but emotionally poignant: "Uncertain", from 1991.

The title track, which serves as the opener, already showcases those touching and inscrutable capabilities of a voice here sharper than usual, of some notes knowing where to be and some others almost out of place, the germs of "Delilah", "Bosnia", and "Time is Ticking Out".

Next is the almost launched "Nothing Left at All", slightly faster, but certainly far from the standards of a rock ballad; a tune ultimately difficult to reproduce evoking the same spirit, the same feelings, even though it's simple. But it already makes a few tears appear.

In my opinion, Dolores sticks the first manifesto of her life with "Pathetic Senses" - something she tried to reproduce in the future with the title "Ridiculous Thoughts". Syncopated, psychotic, tearing even though the sounds remain sweet, heavy, on the verge of psychedelia and intrusion. "Time is an illusion baby, I'm on your side; love is a confusion, you'll never hide; come to the conclusion baby, your love has died..." One would almost want to go through it, a period of hell like Dolores' late '80s, to write such a song...

It ends with "Them", this time a little too roughly sketched and thrown together, however also here full of good ideas and which, thanks to a certain familiarity with listening, probably another track over the top. Another one, for me who discovered it last, even if only the fourth (officially) of one of the most remarkable and stunning careers of the last twenty years of music (not to exaggerate, even though I am very tempted to do so).