ARCAMIRI

The title of the beautiful opener, "Sumi-e", refers to a Japanese term that indicates one of the art forms in which subjects are painted with black ink in all possible gradations. This way of painting was introduced into Japan by Zen monks and tries to express reality by reducing it to its pure, bare form: you have to learn to capture the essence in order to get to the heart of reality as it is. The piece starts with a dark, almost threatening atmosphere, then veers to jazzy territories and goes on through many changes of mood as the music and lyrics conjure up a thin white canvas against a wall of blossoming cherry trees and inks that can capture and transform images and feelings. The paper can't be a prison for past stories, promises or vows as the hand of the painter tries, digs, drives and let the brush find forgiveness and truth...

"Differenze" (Differences) portrays in music and words a fifteen year old girl called Giada who seems alienated from the world around her. With dull eyes she imagines the warm desert after sunset. She follows the wind and stops the sounds with liquid innocence, alone on the gates of darkness. Nobody can understand her, she's different and her presence is a bit disquieting...

The introspective "Es" (Id) sets a mysterious atmosphere and deals with hidden instincts and desires that are very hard to put under control. In the ego psychology model of the psyche, the id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual desires and emotional impulses present at birth, the source of bodily needs and wants. Here the music and lyrics depict the strain of the protagonist trying to tame her instincts and hide her claws facing the moon, like a lycanthrope who struggles to remain human and gets lost heeding the call of the prey...

The jazzy, ethereal "Polvere" (Dust) tells in notes and hermetic verses of the suggestive call of a strange entity covered by the dust of time coming to life. Now it's waiting for you, naked and empty, it invites you to taste its skeleton and skin, to touch its stem and thorns while a veil of dust dries its tears and blots out the world...

"In viaggio" (Travelling) describes in a poignant poetical way the night before the departure of a migrant who is going to leave his family. At dusk you can see the light of a bonfire on the coast. A gust of wind stirs leaves and embers, then takes up ancient voices running after new moons. At dawn a ship set sails leaving behind women, children, homes and roots...

The spectral "D'autunno" (In Autumn) is a dark, Gothic piece evoking the voice of a ghost. A woman dies and steals the light from the sun. She tells she's seen everything and now she knows what's hidden behind the dark and what the infinite conceals but she's dying anyhow. She says she's understood everything but the smell of freshly cut grass in the air recalls her death and a fading Autumn time...

The title of the last track, the complex "Meccano", refers to a line of toys created in 1898 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England. It's a model construction system that enables the building of working models and mechanical devices. Here the Meccano is used as a metaphor to evoke childhood dreams and innocent memories in a game of lights and shadows. Happy children play noisily together, oblivious of the world but as you grow up the innocence melts and now you look at them with a strong sense of envy and nostalgia...

On the whole, an excellent work full of poetry and rich in nuances.

The opener "L'adesso" (Right now) blends electronica and rock and every now and again could recall the clever early eighties synth pop of Matia Bazar. It's a disquieting piece where the music and lyrics evoke the painful contrast between illusions and reality and the need to clash against the obstacles of life to understand where is the good and the evil...

The title track, "Quel che non dici" (What you don't say), starts by a delicate piano passage and deals with the difficulty to express your inner feelings and the effort to hide your troubles from the eyes of the world. The music and lyrics here conjure up the image of a thundering silence that rages like a hurricane under your skin, echoing in the void and slowly killing you...

The dark "Inquietudo" (Restlessness) alternates narrative, theatrical vocals and high pitched, obliques melodies while the music and the poetical lyrics depict a path closed in a circle and a vortex of words, a mysterious shape wandering in a labyrinth of inner troubles and the silent, desperate screams of a woman searching for peace...

The bittersweet "Ballata (di una vecchia puttana)" (Ballad of an old whore) draws the portray of a woman hardened by a difficult life who doesn't long for redemption but is tired to be judged by people and to get hurt by poisonous tongues and self-righteous looks...

"Piove" (It rains) starts with a nervous drum solo and blends frenzied passages and calmer, melancholic parts where the soaring, operatic vocals evoke a fall of painful memories and obscure desires...

The delicate, dreamy lieder "Dentro una goccia" (Inside a drop) closes the album describing a metaphorical journey inside a drop of dew falling down from the sky where you're just waiting for a miracle, searching for your lost time, beyond tears and regrets, until the earth swallows your ethereal body...

On the whole, a very good album, challenging and full of nuances, but beware! It needs more than a spin to be completely appreciated...

The opener "Quasi alba" (Almost dawn) is a kind of disquieting lullaby that starts with far echoes of tango and a melancholic mood. It tells in music and lyrics of a tense silence where haunting nightmares creep in asking for a place in your soul and in your body. There's a little boat lost on a threatening sea, the people on board feel helpless and fragile like a thin piece of paper that is going to be torn...

"La notte e la luna" (The night and the moon) tells about a sad, unfortunate love where desire and pain seem almost to play to hide and seek with destiny. The pace is slow, the atmosphere dark, the voice of Simona Minniti filled with emotion...

"L'anno dei sogni" (The year of dreams) is a nervous track about the loss of innocence that blends hints of funky with opera. Music and words evoke disquieting images, like the innocent blood on the skin of a little girl and a haunting, treacherous sense of void that hits you in the back taking away a part of your soul...

The closer "In acido" (In acid) tells of the loss of identity in a troubled relationship. The music evokes a kind of game of lights and shadows as reality and thoughts melt away...

On the whole, a very promising debut!