La
soluzione semplice (The simple solution) is the fifth studio
album by Sithonia, an Italianprog band from Bologna whose
roots date back to the mid-eighties. It was released in 2011 on the
independent label Lizard Records, after a long hiatus and a hard
studio work, with a line up featuring Paolo Nannetti (organ,
Mellotron, synth, backing vocals), Roberto Magni (guitar, mandolin),
Oriano Dasasso (piano, synth), Orio Cenacchi (drums), Valerio Roda
(bass) and Marco Giovannini (lead and backing vocals). The final
result of their efforts is a good mix of vintage atmospheres and new
musical flavours and I'm sure that fans of Italian prog will
appreciate this concept album about dreams and time passing by, where
the music and lyrics draw an imaginary bridge across past and
present. But maybe the art work by Roberto Magni describes the
content of the album better than my words...
The
opener “Treni di passaggio” (Passing trains) begins by some
hypnotic piano notes and the noises of a railway station in the
background. Then the music and lyrics depict a commuter who is coming
home after a working day. All according to routine, it's just another
day in his life. But suddenly something happens and you can
experience a kind of emotional short circuit: the man has always
fought against his dreams but now he realizes that he might be wrong
while time is passing by... Then the rhythm rises and whirling waves
of vintage keyboards draw him in the past where he gets lost for
awhile like a child in a fairy-tale wood. After the instrumental
middle section the vocals come back and the atmosphere becomes
calmer... The commuter comes out from his dream with a new awareness:
now he can accept his dreams and get along with his present life. Now
he runs to catch his train, a new day can't separate what we are from
what we were or what we had wanted to be... “But we live, it's sure
/ There's nothing to dream / I’m running fast, there’s a train
waiting for...”.
 |
| Sithonia 2013 |
What
kind of magic made change the protagonist's mind? The second track,
“Tornando” (Coming back), is a beautiful short instrumental that
starts with the sound of a tape in reverse. Now you have to set your
watch back forty years, you're in a time warp... The following
“Cronaca persa” (Lost chronicle) is a long, complex suite divided
into six parts that tells about a lost summer full of music, colours
and glances towards the sky. An obsessive voice repeats that those
days can't come back and that you can't go back in time. Nonetheless
there are moments that seem everlasting, imagines that you can't
forget, memories that can't melt into the mist of the daily grind and
dreams that keep on flying through the clouds of a rainy day... “The
music goes, can't you hear it? / It soars through the brambles, it
dances among the flowers and then it will remain... It comes from
afar and plays with us / It won't go away...”. Those lost days now
seem be running along the banks of a river, searching for a bridge to
cross it while time is just a face on the water... Now you
look in a mirror and see just a stranger, but sometimes memories come
back with an overwhelming force and you have the illusion to be back
there, just for a last time, just for a last stolen look... “The
last time, just a last time / I do not want to ask for more...
Nothing can change if you can't change a bit...”.
The
short, evocative instrumental “Il tram del topo” (The tram of the
mouse) leads to the title track that tells in music and words of a
clash between different feelings in front of a difficult choice. The
protagonist is now on the edge of an immense abyss and he's going to
take a risk that he has never taken before... “I will not be asking
from you the simple solution / You will not be the one who will look
with me for all the answers we have never asked...”.
The
short, delicate instrumental “Passeggiata” (Walk) leads to the
conclusive “Il vento di Nauders” (The wind from Nauders),
another long, complex track that conjures up the memories of a
beautiful day of music and friendship spent in the Alps (Nauders is
a lovely place in Austria, near the border with Italy and Swiss). Now the air
is redolent of the smell of the woods and you get lost among sweet
sounds and warm colours... Then the dream comes to an end, the mist
of time disappears and you can listen again to the same hypnotic
notes of piano that opened the album. The circle is closed, the
protagonist is back to reality on the train that takes him home...
On
the whole, I think that this is an excellent album, a real must for
Italian prog lovers!
Sithonia:
La soluzione semplice (2011). Other opinions:
Jim
Russell: From short interludes to 20-plus minute epics it's all
here: grand upbeat synths and warm melancholic piano pieces, lofty
mellotrons, drop-dead gorgeous passages of Ant Phillips-like acoustic
guitar, rippin' melodic electric leads, and hearty Italian vocals.
The combination of the earthy sunset mellotron and the bucolic
acoustic guitar segments give the album a truly gorgeous feel,
contrasted with occasional feisty elements... Sithonia break no new
boundaries and seek not to impress via technical ecstasy, instead,
this is an album of lovingly crafted tales which seep into you over
time. More than anything else this is progressive rock with tons of
heart, a passionate pastoral world of folksy musical storytelling and
vibrant rock... (red the complete review HERE)
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