Giorgio Maggiore - Radioanima

The album's first track ' Radioanima' is a three part nine minute epic of an opener starting with an instrumental section that sounds like it was penned by Brian Eno for Anathema that slips into an ethnic drum driven piece of uplifting acoustic pop before slipping back into another haunting instrumental section. The next track 'Liberi' sounds a lot like the middle section of 'Radioanima' but has the added attraction of some guitar distortion to kick it up a notch and give it a slightly punkier edge. 'Speranze Tradite' has a piano introduction that reminds me of the intro to The Damned's 'Melody Lee', but instead of that sudden switch into catchy punk, we find ourselves going further down the rabbit hole on a wave of relaxation. The following track 'La Porta' is a seven minute Latin crooning ballad off set with ambient keyboard work that could easily find itself on the closing credits of a modern spaghetti western, at seven minutes though it does tend to drag on, which isn't helped by the next track being the instrumental 'Rintocchi' which despite being a different arrangement of instruments, does have a very similar lead guitar line. 'Inno' is the ultimate counterpoint to all the previous tracks on the album, sounding like it has been lifted from an eighties sc-fi series, it is very Brian Eno again. 'Wie Wird Meine Zukunft?' comes off with an almost neo-folk vibe but maintains a very light pop guitar line all the way through, which makes it interesting listening, especially when the distortion makes another, if somewhat subdued, return. Giorggio's voice strangely suits the delivery of the German lyrics very well too. ' In Fondo All'anima' however kind of gives me a Nick Cave vibe... not in the sound or way its delivered, but in its atmosphere, there feels like there is something sinister lurking just below the tranquil surface of this slice of ambient new wave which makes it very hard to not try and dissect it.