Moltheni - The Songwriter Who Lived Twice

The First Steps

Umberto Maria Giardini was born on June 22, 1968 in Sant’Elpidio a Mare, in the province of Marche. He got his start in music playing drums and forming the Hameldome with some school friends, a band that managed to win the title of best emerging act at the Arezzo Wave finals in 1989. The experience was cut short just a few months later, however, when Umberto decided to move to Scotland, where he would stay until mid-1994 — a choice that allowed him to connect with key figures of the local scene and hone his skills, both as a writer and a performer.

Back in Italy, he settled first in Rome, then in Milan, and in 1997 in Bologna. He began recording material sung in Italian under the pseudonym Moltheni, borrowed from the name of a pharmacy in Milan. Five demo tracks, recorded onto a cassette, found their way into the hands of Francesco Virlinzi, the legendary producer of the Catania scene. It proved to be the decisive turning point: Virlinzi was struck by those songs and immediately signed the musician from Marche to his own label, Cyclope Records, soon also booking him as an opening act for some of Carmen Consoli's concerts.

In 1999 he made his mark with his debut, Natura in replay. Among the musicians involved in the recordings were two of the four members of Massimo Volume, Egle Sommacal and Vittoria Burattini, momentarily on hiatus with Mimì Clementi's band. A brief electro intro opens the door to Moltheni's world, as he chooses to introduce himself to his potential audience with the effective strains of the cult song "Il circuito affascinante", the best possible synthesis of Afterhours (in the verses) and Carmen Consoli (in the chorus), two major names who emerge as the album's most evident influences throughout. In particular, tracks like "In centro all’orgoglio" and "Equilibrio" come across as a male counterpart to the Sicilian singer.

Within Natura in replay, a markedly alt-rock first half is followed by a second one dominated by acoustic textures and vaguely psychedelic digressions, which lead the listener by the hand through to the soft, anguished "Un desiderio innocuo", a closing track built entirely around voice and piano.

From tracks like "Flagello e amore" a strong, aching, introspective streak is already visible, one that the artist would expand on a few years later. The descriptive passages are underpinned by post-rock textures, with the guitars sketching out the moods. Moltheni immediately found a place within that Italian "alternative" scene which, over the course of the decade, was living through its most dazzling era ever: he would soon be invited to share the stage with some of the circuit's biggest names, Afterhours, Verdena and Ginevra Di Marco.

In 2000 he tried his hand at Sanremo, presenting the brilliant "Nutriente", which placed sixth in the "Giovani" (Young Artists) section. It would remain Umberto's only appearance at the Festival della Canzone Italiana. "Nutriente" would later be included as the centerpiece track on the subsequent reissue of Natura in replay.

Electrically even more robust, the following album Fiducia nel nulla migliore confirms and improves on everything that was praised about the debut. The deep Afterhours influences (just listen to how much Agnelli comes through in tracks like "Curami deus", "Misma" or "In me") and Carmen Consoli ("Ridi Irene ridi") are this time diluted through a vocal delivery that comes remarkably close to Edda's (hear it for yourself on "Educazione all'inverso" and "Mondodown"), almost an unwitting anticipation of what would become the solo work of the singer from Ritmo Tribale.

Fiducia nel nulla migliore is a tautly wound record, and for many longtime fans it remains Moltheni's best, with the electric guitars pushed right to the fore from the opening notes of "Zenith" onward; in the tracks that follow he shows he can move nimbly between indie-pop ("Finta gioia") and alt-rock ("Il bowling o il sesso?"), spinning soft, coiling melodies on "Zona monumentale" and "E poi vienimi a dire che questo amore non è grande come tutto il cielo che è sopra di noi". There's also room for instrumental interludes ("Fiducia in un nulla migliore"), which - as we'll see - would remain a constant presence throughout Umberto's entire body of work.

In 2004 Moltheni recorded a batch of even harder, more direct songs, which were meant to come together as an album titled "Forma mentis". That record, repeatedly delayed by a major label, would never see release, and its electric intoxication would be overtaken by the acoustic, introspective turn the musician from the Marche region took shortly afterward, crafted into his third album - the one that, with the major-label deal having fallen through, marked his move to the independent label La Tempesta, prompted by the untimely death of Francesco Virlinzi and the resulting shutdown of Cyclope Records' operations.

The acoustic-introspective turn

2005 then brought Splendore terrore, which ushered in a clear stylistic shift, a significant evolution of Moltheni's sound, its character now shaped by vintage instruments - in particular the Wurlitzer piano, played by Pietro Canali, which blends perfectly with the acoustic guitar, often run through distortion, delay and reverb. The drums, simple and linear, are once again handled by Vittoria Burattini, still on hiatus from Massimo Volume, who fits seamlessly into the overall mood, dark and sensual. Spare and essential, Splendore terrore is a work steeped in sweet melancholy, a collection of tremendous intensity that draws on the intimacy of Nick Drake, the expansive atmospheres of post-rock and the visionary madness of Syd Barrett. Among Italians, the closest comparisons are the noble singer-songwriter tradition of Luigi Tenco and Sergio Endrigo. The change of direction Moltheni imposes on his own songwriting is decisive: the final result pulls sharply away from the influences of the first two albums, drawing closer instead to the folk style of American singer-songwriters such as Devendra Banhart and Iron & Wine.

The common thread running through the eleven tracks is the relationship between love and solitude, a complicated inner journey suspended between idyll and desolation, one that finds death as its sole, inexorable destination, in a constant interplay of reality and fantasy.

The tracklist opens with the brief instrumental "Gli occhi di Mara Cagol", a touching acoustic piece dedicated to the wife of Red Brigades member Renato Curcio, who was killed in 1975 during a shootout with law enforcement. The artist's passion for 1970s politics resurfaces later on "Fiori di carne". The record moves from the strongly visionary impact of the instrumentals "Blue", "Tutta la bellezza dell'istinto materno" and "Tatàna" to the softness of "Nel potere del legno" and "Limite e perfezione", through to the gentle psychedelia of "La ragazza dai denti strani". "Suprema" is once again an anguished closer, entrusted to a piece written for voice and piano.

On Splendore terrore Moltheni forcefully sheds all the influences he'd been saddled with at the time of his first two albums, shaping a thoroughly renewed personality. It's a first rebirth for the musician from the Marche region, and - as we'll see - it won't be the last.

At the end of the promotional tour for Splendore terrore, Moltheni released Vinile Live, a collection of live recordings available for purchase only through the artist's official website.

In 2005 he took part in a compilation paying tribute to Lucio Battisti, "Respiriamo liberi", on which he reinterprets "Il tempo di morire" in acoustic form, effectively turning it into a Moltheni song.

Two years later came Toilette memoria, "thirteen tracks through the bloody, endless plains of love", as the brief preface puts it, for a work that features contributions from Franco Battiato (his is the synthesized voice on "Sento che sta per succedermi qualcosa"), Carmelo Pipitone of Marta sui Tubi, and the Ferrari brothers of Verdena, all three featured in the playful colors of "Deserto biondo".

The album fully confirms the path set out by its predecessor, moving in a markedly different direction from his early work. Toilette memoria is a pragmatic ode to the memory of love, worked out through a hermetic style of writing, with orchestral arrangements now covering the folk nakedness of the third album through a fuller instrumentation that broadens the range of shadings. What prevails is a kind of "pained optimism", expressed in tones that are almost always austere, broken only occasionally by lighter moments ("Minerva", for instance, buoyed by Pietro Canali's ever-reliable Wurlitzer). The collaboration with Tre Allegri Ragazzi Morti, who produced the record, is renewed, further strengthening the partnership begun with the label La Tempesta.

The exhilarating urban narrative fabric, at times taking the form of pure poetry, is matched by sounds that move in several different directions: from the dazed folk of "Io" to the rounded, classic pop-song stride of "L'età migliore", "Eternamente, nell'illusione di te" - enriched by a lovely instrumental coda - and "Nella mia bocca", from the acoustic emptiness underpinning "L'amore d'alloro" to the psych accents that mark the closing "Cavalli sciolti del nord". Once again there are fully instrumental passages, such as the melancholy, troubled tableau of "Requiem per la Repubblica Italiana".

Toilette memoria represents the definitive consecration of Moltheni, by now rightfully part of that select circle of songwriters who, through a series of flashes of insight, are redrawing the coordinates of Italian singer-songwriter music - a circle in which the touching "Nel futuro potere del legno" stands as one of its pillars, built on writing that increasingly distances Moltheni from the illuminations of his debut and draws him toward the songwriting of more introspective artists, Riccardo Sinigallia first and foremost.

Just one year goes by and here are six new compositions, collected on the mini-album Io non sono come te, opened by the evocative instrumental "Risveglio". A relaxed record, at times even understated, played entirely with just guitar, bass and synth, with no drums whatsoever. Moltheni continues to convey his own quiet, lucid and desperate view of life and relationships, carried by a voice full of discreet pathos, fragile and wickedly unsettling. The themes of love, death and loneliness are tackled with an apparent renunciation of anxiety.

The lyrics betray a form of misogyny toward the fair sex, crystallized above all in the verses of "Tu", a merciless account of the trials and joys of a relationship, delivered through elegant, not always orthodox metaphors. "Giorni cattivi" and "Io non io" gather the author's typical metaphysical lyrical pessimism, while "Montagna nera" embodies an unceasing search for the path toward inner peace.

With I segreti del corallo (2008) the arrangements return to being full and lush: an album born in contrast to the calm of the immediately preceding works. The opener is "Vita rubina", one of the finest tracks Moltheni has ever recorded. From the rounded alt-pop of "Gli anni del malto" and "L'amore acquatico" to the gentler reflections of "In porpora" and "Suprema" (a great piece of poetry, featuring the electric guitar of Carmelo Pipitone as a guest), all the way to the vaguely Pink Floyd-like atmospheres of the instrumental "Che il destino possa riunire ciò che il mare ha separato", I segreti del corallo is yet another work of the highest quality, further cementing Moltheni's artistic path, which by now has secured him a central position within the Italian independent scene.

In the second half of the tracklist the more acoustic, slow and mournful side prevails, especially on tracks like "Ragazzo solo, ragazza sola", "Corallo", "Verano" and "L'attimo celeste/ Prima dell'apocalisse". "Suprema" would later be covered the following year by Edda, who included his own version on the 2010 EP "In orbita".

In 2009, to celebrate ten years of activity, Moltheni released Ingrediente novus, a collection featuring 17 rearranged and re-recorded tracks, plus the two new songs "Petalo" and "Per carità di stato", a social invective that follows in the footsteps of the most outspoken De Gregori (or Fossati, if you prefer). Among the guests who help elevate the new versions are names such as Mauro Pagani, Vasco Brondi (vocals on "Zona monumentale"), Ilenia Volpe (vocals on "In centro all'orgoglio"), Massimo Martellotta (guitar on "Per carità di stato") and Enrico Gabrielli (string direction on "Nutriente", "Suprema", "Nella mia bocca" and "Un desiderio innocuo").

Gathering some of Moltheni's finest work and sharing it with artists able to add further quality: Ingrediente novus, another album much loved by fans, represents a - decidedly successful - attempt to compile an anthology while refreshing its songs. The result feels more like an album of new material (albeit with already familiar songs) than a true anthology. The CD comes with a DVD containing a set recorded a few months earlier at Circolo Magnolia in Milan, an acoustic live set, the music videos released up to that point, and a short film titled "Frutto del fiume".

Just as Moltheni reached a stature that saw him regarded as one of the leading figures of the Italian independent scene - a singer-songwriter who had proven his absolute credibility both as a rocker and as a deeply introspective songwriter, all while carving out an entirely personal expressive voice - something broke within the artist's mechanisms, at only thirty-two years of age. In a surprise move, at the end of summer 2010, he announced to the world that his official website was "closed forever". It seemed like a prank, but within a few months he would confirm his decision to abandon his career as a singer-songwriter and the use of the pseudonym Moltheni.

While fans were left dismayed, Umberto never severed his relationship with music: he went back to his first instrument, the drums, sitting behind the kit for the new project Pineda, shared with Marco Maracas on guitars and Floriano Bocchino on synth. The result was an album, Pineda, released in 2011 on DeAmbula Records, entirely instrumental, with post-rock leanings very much Tortoise-oriented, with some prog digressions and long psychedelic-flavored rides, through which Moltheni could shed the burden of being a frontman.

In his spare time, Umberto doled out small but precious collaborations that helped support niche projects within the emerging scene. Among other things, he lent his voice to the track "Scompaio", included on the Miura album "Croci" (2008), to "Stella che non dimentica", featured on "Disconoir" by Gatto Ciliegia Contro il Grande Freddo, and to two songs ("Un giorno qualunque" and "Il muro") included on "Il debutto" by Colore Perfetto, released in 2010 by La Tempesta Dischi.

Besides appearing on a few compilations from the independent scene, he also had fun playing drums on a couple of dates of Il Pan del Diavolo's tour; a few years later, in 2017, he would also make an appearance on the track "Gravità zero", included on their album "Supereroi". In 2009 he took part in "Clowns And Jugglers: A Tribute To Syd Barrett", performing a cover of the track "It Is Obvious".

The second artistic life

Just one year goes by and here comes another twist: Umberto returns to the spotlight, using his own first name for the first time, on La dieta dell'imperatrice, produced by Antonio Cooper Cupertino - a new beginning full of pathos, decadent romanticism and skillful arrangements. Umberto Maria Giardini sings in a melancholic voice of poetic or tormented loves, in a style now closer to Manuel Agnelli's ballad mode than to the Sinigallia of the later releases under the Moltheni name, preserving his own distinctive style while his subjects tend to grow more cryptic and claustrophobic.

Musically, La dieta dell'imperatrice is a slow-paced, rarefied record, but beneath the surface simmers a never-dormant love for psychedelic rock, which at times explodes into electric, hypnotic progressions, as happens on the driving "Il desiderio preso per la coda" (which confirms his taste for instrumental tracks), "Il sentimento del tempo" and in the closing "L'ultimo venerdì dell'umanità". An album of intense lyricism, with flashes of excellence ("Anni luce", "Il trionfo dei tuoi occhi", "Quasi nirvana"), though at times monotone, marking the transition into the second life of the artist once known as Moltheni. A work that earned unanimous praise from both audience and critics, confirming that Giardini's inspiration remained entirely intact.

In 2013 the new direction was confirmed through five unreleased, chiaroscuro-toned compositions, featured on the mini-album Ognuno di noi è un po' Anticristo, perfectly in line with the comeback signed the previous year. "Fortuna, ora", originally slated for the tracklist of "La dieta dell'imperatrice" itself, highlights the project's continuity, with soundscapes that remain poised between psychedelia, post-rock and illuminated singer-songwriter craft.

The new Giardini makes the intensity of its sonic textures one of its defining traits, as shown by the instrumental charge of "Oh gioventù", the crescendo of "Regina della notte" and the throbbing closers "Omega" and "Tutto è Anticristo".

Ognuno di noi è un po’ Anticristo is therefore a work that sits in continuity with the past, proof that the change of name was not meant to create a break, even if something in Umberto's artistic path is gradually shifting.

Further confirmation comes in 2015 with the release of Protestantesima, which retains features that set it apart from the rest of the catalogue. The sound, full and rounded, this time relies less on guitars and leaves more room for keyboards, piano and strings, without ever letting them take centre stage. The vocal lines adapt to this sonic attitude, coming across as consistently soft and setting aside some of the rougher edges of the past. Small adjustments that let in a breath of fresh air. The writing style doesn't change, moving between bold yet effective metaphors and sudden shifts in setting. What does shift is the balance of subject matter, between love stories and reflections on the world, with the latter repeatedly taking the upper hand.

Melodic inspiration blends perfectly with the sound, the vocal timbre and the lyrics, an amalgam of strong emotional impact, albeit with less anger and more disillusionment than in the past. For the first time, Giardini shows the newfound maturity of a seasoned man, who tries to safeguard his own certainties rather than let himself be swept along by events. Worth mentioning are "Il vaso di Pandora", enriched by a powerful crescendo in its second half, and "Seconda madre", carried by a particularly compelling melody-lyrics pairing. A couple of tracks ("Sibilla", "Urania") remain a touch static, lacking the usual evocative atmospheres, weakening the album's final stretch without however undermining its overall quality.

Small Returns to the Past

Another two years on, and the axis keeps shifting: in 2017 Futuro Proximo returns to stir the waters, bringing the electricity of his early days back to the fore, even venturing into noise and electro leanings in the closing stretches of "Avanguardia" and "Alba boreale", which, being placed at the start of the tracklist, set the mood for the whole record.

For the rest, Futuro Proximo flows pleasantly, though without any particular jolts. A full, heavily played record, with sumptuous, easily accessible tracks ("Il vento e il cigno", "Dimenticare il tempo") and an aggressive instrumental enriched by sax and an almost prog structure ("Ieri nel futuro proximo"). As has happened several times in Giardini's career, the closing track is a soft, aching piano ballad: "Mea culpa".

Also in 2017, Giardini makes a record with a renewed indie-rock imprint under the name Stella Maris. Alongside him in the band are Ugo Cappadonia, Gianluca Bartolo (Il Pan del Diavolo), Emanuele Alosi (La Banda del Pozzo) and Paolo Narduzzo (Universal Sex Arena). Standouts include "L'umanità indotta", the formidable "Piango pietre" and the successful Smiths homages "Rifletti e rimandi" and "Eleonora no" (though references to Morrissey and Johnny Marr's band crop up pretty much everywhere).

In 2018 the tracks "Madre nera" and "Flagello d'amore" are shared, recorded together with Edda, cementing a collaboration that brings back the flavour of his early days. The same year sees the release of the single "Il giorno che muore", backed with an acoustic version of "Curami deus" as its companion track.

Nice surprises arrive at the start of 2019. Umberto goes back to the project he abandoned in 2004, the one that was meant to become the third Moltheni album. Fifteen years later he rediscovers in his blood and nerves the same expressive urgency, and that forgotten record takes "shape" again. Guitars, lots of guitars, arrive as if teleported straight from the '90s, underscoring the recurring themes of death and ending. Energetic atmospheres that shouldn't be read as the jarring stance of a rocker past his prime - no, Forma mentis is a welcome, invigorating surprise, entirely consistent with its author's artistic path. A consistency reinforced by a voice that is by now unmistakable and by meticulous, always recognisable writing, capable of producing touches of infinite tenderness such as "Pleiadi in un cielo perfetto", "Le colpe dell'adolescenza" and "Tenebra", the moments that best connect with his recent output.

But the 2019 Giardini feels the need to signal that something has changed: instead of curling back on himself, endlessly repeating, he sharpens his weapons and crafts twelve vigorous tracks that ripple with tension even when they initially don't seem to want to, even when they start out hushed, as happens in the unfolding of "La tua conchiglia" and in the epilogue of the achingly sweet "Luce", which veers into a sudden stoner swerve. "Argo", the instrumental "Vortice cremisi" and the long, epic-leaning title track (placed at the close, featuring guest Adriano Viterbini) are the project's sharpest points, the ones that end up defining it the most.

A vocal delivery that at times recalls the most inspired Manuel Agnelli (from whom he borrows the cut-up technique of Burroughsian memory), an electric approach halfway between grunge à la Soundgarden ("Materia nera") and the odd psychedelic digression ("I miei panni sporchi") make Forma mentis an old-school singer-songwriter record, made by a musician who has managed to stay true to himself over the years, shedding his skin more than once while always remaining faithful to who he is. A work that stands apart from the rest of Umberto Maria Giardini's discography both for its sonic character and for its sheer beauty.

The Return of Moltheni

Then, suddenly, exactly ten years after retiring the Moltheni persona from the scene, comes the decision to recover some of the material left unreleased from that virtuous youthful adventure, re-recorded at the dawn of 2020 with the presumed intention - soon shelved - of taking its fruits out on tour alongside the historic repertoire. The result is Senza eredità, a record with an "old" flavour, yet suspended in a kind of timeless bubble that makes it feel ageless. Only one track was composed recently, "La mia libertà", placed as a programmatic statement at the top of the running order. The rest resurfaced from the archives of Francesco Virlinzi (thanks to the painstaking research carried out by the producer's mother, following his premature passing) and of Massimo Roccaforte, Carmen Consoli's longtime guitarist. Among the musicians involved in the project are the prestigious contributions of Riccardo Tesio, Egle Sommacal and Carmelo Pipitone, alongside Roccaforte himself.

Some of these songs had already taken complete shape back at the time, to the point that (as in the case of "Ieri") they were even played live during the last tour under the Moltheni name, before being set aside in favour of solutions that - in the songwriter's view - better matched the new aesthetic he was after. Inside we find a great deal of the most introspective Moltheni, especially in the acoustic tracks, where Umberto proves he has taken the lesson of the great folk songwriters to heart, making it his own, producing textures capable of digging into the soul and leaving deep scars. That's the case with "Estate 1983", "Sai mantenere un segreto?" and "Tutte quelle cose che non ho fatto in tempo a dirti", remarkably effective in its extreme simplicity. Elsewhere we appreciate the dynamics and electricity, especially on "Il quinto malumore", a track bound to delight longtime fans, the ones who loved writing and a vocal register able to maintain a wondrous balance between Consoli and Afterhours.

Everything is draped in that almost painful veil of melancholy typical of every phase of Umberto Maria Giardini's career. After the more "rock" interlude of the excellent "Forma Mentis", Senza eredità represents a new, courageous quest for change within an artistic path marked by truly rare sensitivity and beauty, continuing to produce albums of great value despite clear discontinuities, even stylistic ones.

After having "brought back to life" Moltheni for the span of an album and a celebratory tour during which he revived some of the precious material composed in his first artistic incarnation, in October 2023 Umberto Maria Giardini returned to recording under his own name. While in the studio shaping the contents of his next album, he released a three-track EP, Domus Meus, containing an unreleased track, "Le bilance della mente", which follows the same intimate, emotionally charged folk vein Umberto has always accustomed us to, plus two songs drawn from Giardini's repertoire, re-recorded live, in direct takes, at the Mushroom Studios in Frisanco, in the province of Pordenone.

These are "Graziaplena" (originally on "Futuro Proximo", 2017) and "Anni Luce" (dating back to "La dieta dell'imperatrice", 2012). No drums, songs that flow by letting the emotions unfold slowly, striking the listener right in the heart. The Domus Meus project comes with a documentary-style video directed by Marco Falanga, capturing Umberto Maria Giardini as he walks through the Friulian countryside and during studio sessions with the band backing him: Marco Marzo Maracas (already together in the Pineda venture) on electric guitars and Michele Zanni on piano, moog and rhodes, with Enrico Berto handling recording and mixing.

November 2023 also brought a new album, Mondo e antimondo, which presents a full sound, built around the idea of grafting the right doses of rock and psychedelia onto Giardini's introspective songwriting, with even faint prog influences surfacing, for instance, in the shifting structures of "Andromeda". Umberto appears intact, immaculate, decidedly inspired, imbuing the material with a poetry that is at times almost unbearable in its boundless intensity. The songwriter tells of ancient trades, draws on rural imagery, recounts simple gestures with great depth of feeling. Through superb inner analysis he stitches together stories cast in a negative light, rarely allowing much room for a happy ending. Sincere and dramatically realistic, he takes all the time in the world to tend to every tiny detail with craftsman-like care, devoting loving attention to shaping the arrangements.

Across the ten tracks of Mondo e Antimondo, Giardini remains firmly tied to his own roots, to the style that has characterized all his post-Moltheni work, expressing that distinctive northern essence of his, carved into moving, melancholic atmospheres. Played impeccably, at times with decisive electric vigor, and enriched by his unmistakable voice, powerful and evocative, Mondo e Antimondo also features some prestigious collaborations, among them Cristiano Godano, who lends his voice to "Le tue mani", a moment not too far removed from the finest ballads of the mid-period Marlene Kuntz, the ones of "Bianco Sporco" and "Uno".

Toward the end of 2024, Umberto Maria Giardini released two completely different EPs, two projects that add further facets to his intricate stylistic puzzle. The first, Dio come alibi, colored by folk-jazz hues, is the fruit of an artistic collaboration with Paolo Fresu and Daniele Di Bonaventura.

The second, Selva Oscura, is instead the result of recording sessions carried out by an actual new band, named precisely Selva Oscura, with which Giardini pushes into hard-rock territory, without shying away from the occasional psychedelic flourish.

So much torment pours out of every single note, every single word of any work bearing Umberto Maria Giardini's name. A torment that is at times unbearable, steeped in a seductive, irresistible, yet aching beauty. The years pass, inexorably, but Umberto keeps writing songs of the highest caliber, alternating vivid intensity with refined delicacy. Olimpo diverso, his 2025 record, released on November 21st via La Tempesta, opens with the chords of an acoustic guitar, soon joined by that distinctive voice: “Guarda / Io vicino a te / Nudo e crudo come un Cristo a cui non credo”. Poetry, reality, truth, and the arrangements, often imposing, carving their way through, stitched together with the contribution of the excellent backing band that accompanies him: Marco Marzo on guitars, Michele Zanni on piano, synth and bass, Filippo Dallamagnana on drums, Alessio Alberghini on baritone sax and flute.

The approach is decidedly rock oriented, something we discover right away in the impetuous unfolding of "Frustapopolo", a track that takes on a position of absolute centrality within the album's overall design, a piece ideally split into two parts, where in the second Umberto Maria Giardini launches into vocalizations brimming with pathos that unspool alongside Alberghini's sax. One of the finest compositions of recent-era Giardini. With "Topazia" the register shifts, an ethereal melancholy cradled by a soft electronic bed, ready to ripple without ever straying too far out of line, always retaining the gentle courtesy that distinguishes the singer-songwriter from the Marche region. Exquisite songcraft returns in "Paga la vita", a piece that recalls the most intensely reflective moments of the Moltheni era.

If "Vipera blu" is a tender, unmistakably folk-tinged piece in which Giardini once again proves himself a pained chronicler of the depths, "Energia" reclaims a rock drive with an unmistakably nineties flavor. The inability to communicate between people and a sense of loss are among the most recurring themes in the lyrics, at times inlaid within a more classical musicality ("Pietre nell'accappatoio"), at other times rendered through an overall design that marries electronics and jazz ("Capire prima che accada", influenced by Radiohead from the "Kid A" era). Rounding out a tracklist with no filler are the adventurous instrumental excursions of "Mega estate" and the rarefied delicacy expressed in "Acquaforte".

Contributions by Giuliano Delli Paoli ("Toilette memoria"), Stefano Bartolotta ("Protestantesima")

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