Why?

Scattered shadows in the Po Valley tundra. Maybe it was the bitter cold that discouraged any daring trips out the door, or maybe Legnago — given the freezing conditions — simply isn't an easy destination for the Milanese indie crowd, never much accustomed to venturing into the hinterland. Whatever the reason, the turnout at the "Jail" for the Why? rendez-vous could genuinely be counted on the fingers of one hand. A shame for those who weren't there, it must be said, because the slight, bearded Yoni Wolf — white t-shirt, nerdy glasses and regulation frayed jeans — proved, even in a live setting, that he knows exactly what he's doing. And he did so by reinforcing, if anything, the idea already present on "Elephant Eyelash": that of a versatile musician who's far too big for the "white rapper" label, even accounting for all the variants we could tack onto it, "alternative" included.

Nothing could spoil the happening — not the bonsai-sized stage hosting the four musicians (one wonders how you can play drums with your back nailed to the wall, or keyboards as if you had books wedged under your armpits), nor the backing sound system, which we won't hesitate to call makeshift: despite everything — or rather precisely because of it — for a spectator with a generous imagination, it must have felt like witnessing Pavement's very first gig, in some California backroom equipped with electricity, an amplifier and, ça va sans dire, energy to spare.

An interchangeable line-up of drums, guitar, bass and keyboards (plus assorted gadgets), four guys who showed they could do it all, and do it well, swapping instruments among themselves as if it were nothing. Wolf is as comfortable behind the drums as he is on the strings (bass and guitar, in his case), on vocals as much as on keyboards: a globetrotter (multiply that by four, gentlemen), for an ensemble that, following an (un)defined path, brushed up against post-rock leanings (well, they do keep coming back every now and then), indie-rock dissertations (Pavement, as mentioned), lo-fi itches (Sparklehorse?) and, only at the very end, a rapping style so delicate it morphs into the most melancholy, disenchanted pop. Along this deeply personal inclination unfolds a setlist that included, alongside the precious gems of the latest album (unmissable the trio "Rubber Traits", "Yo Yo Bye Bye" and "Gemine", played one after another halfway through the show), excursions into the cLOUDDEAD universe, and above all, as the true high point, an abrasive, vicious rap-rock version of "21st Century Pop Song", courtesy of Hymie's Basement (another notable project of his, dating back to 2003), in which the two genres coexist without any contortions, with an ease never heard before.

At the tail end of the excellent performance, we even catch a Yoni looking somewhere between embarrassed and astonished, having been asked to sign three — three! — autographs, whether he liked it or not, on freshly purchased copies of "Elephant Eyelash": a black marker gripped in his hand for him, a little red circle in our notebook, one more chapter in the endless saga of invisible talents that keeps perpetuating itself.

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