Pellegrino & Zodyaco

Pellegrino & Zodyaco first appeared in 2018 on Early Sounds Recordings, two years after Pellegrino Snichelotto’s solo album debut. As founder and key figure of the label, Snichelotto was already instrumental in shaping what would later become known as the “Napoliterranean” sound. That same 2016 also saw the release of "The Tony Allen Experiments", the debut album by Nu Guinea, now Nu Genea—internationally acknowledged as a defining act of the Neapolitan nu-disco wave. Snichelotto was among the first to believe in this movement.
Much has changed since then. "Koiné" is the third album by Pellegrino & Zodyaco, arriving five years after the intoxicating "Morphé" (2020, with Bassolino on keyboards). But Koiné doesn’t just refine the formula: it expands it, gives it cohesion, and lays bare its horizon.

“Mario” is an uptempo jewel with a breezy, kaleidoscopic chorus, veering toward fusion in a way that hints at a broader vocabulary. “L’aura” opens with a Latin-tinged motif and maintains a sunlit nocturnality through its interplay of male and female vocals, funky elasticity, liquid guitar, synths, and saxophone. “Palepoli” moves closer to an urban dimension: its quasi-reggae beat, half-spoken vocals, and more introspective tone remain open to rhythmic flow. “Facussì” is the most direct and danceable track: propulsive bass lines recalling city pop, dazzling keyboards, and staccato phrases that interlock with fluid precision.

The mood is upbeat and the tone feels easygoing and familiar, yet the sonic palette is continually infused with an exotic soul—a tension toward the elsewhere. It’s a duality that reveals how this seemingly lightweight music is able to stir something deep and universal. The spiritual dimension emerges strongly from the cover art, a stunning weave of references spanning eras, disciplines, and continents. Inspired by Henri Laborit’s "Éloge de la fuite", the album sets out in search of a new “common language” (the Koiné of the title), not just musically, but culturally: one that unites Mediterranean roots with a global, contemporary outlook.

In a time when we’re “hyperconnected with everything and everyone except ourselves” (as Snichelotto recently stated in a TV interview), this record feels like an invitation to slow down, to dance, to briefly reconnect with our inner selves. Some may call its formula dated. But its music is simply timeless.

(English version created with AI-assisted translation)

24/04/2025