Scisma - Rock visions in chiaroscuro

What's the goal of Scisma? To move whoever listens to them. Word of Paolo Benvegnù, guitarist and founder of a band that in just a few years changed course decisively, having been formed in 1993 to “search for a new form of expression within a music scene that was a bit too rock-oriented”. Indeed, alongside the “historic” members — Giorgia Poli on bass, Michela Manfroi on keyboards, Diego de Marco on guitar and Danilo Gallo on drums (with Benvegnù also on lead vocals at the time) — the band initially included three actors: Max Ilian Zelig, Manuela Minelli and Elena Massidda. Experimentation is the chosen path, one that continued even after singer Sara Mazo joined the lineup, reaching its peak on the self-produced album Pezzettini di carta.

In 1995 the theatrical component left the group: Scisma definitively chose the musical path, marked by an unusual magnetism and sonic impact. They self-produced the album They Bomb Cortina, a harsh, acidic record, though the foundations of the refined, cultured sound that would characterize the band's future work are already visible. A track like “Umanità sconsolante” even shows some ties to the noise of Marlene Kuntz, but the best tracks are “Amore vuoto espande” and “Scivolando”, where the band's dreamy yet “violent” sound is elevated by the captivating, intriguing voice of Sara Mazo.

1996 was the turning point: the extraordinary success achieved at “Arezzo Wave” and “Rock Targato Italy” gave the band the opportunity to record the album Rosemary Plexiglas, released the following year on Emi. The record, produced by Manuel Agnelli of Afterhours, highlights Scisma's enormous potential: Sara's voice increasingly reveals its ethereal beauty, Benvegnù — by now on second vocals — spreads dreamlike visions through his guitar, drenched in sonic shades that alternate with the different colors painted by Diego De Marco's guitar, Danilo Gallo's drumming is powerful and tight, the notes coming from Michela's keyboard conjure dreams, and Giorgia Poli proves to be an excellent bassist. The album glides between concrete images and illusory ones: from the noise of “Completo” and “84” to the experimental attempt of “Poco incline ai R.F.”, the record offers magical moments, as in “Loop 43” and “Golf” (“Dolce di miele ocra e cromo nel cobalto. Linee su linee punti immensi prospettive. Spettro-colori voci e suoni da imparare”), though the manifesto-track is indeed “Rosemary Plexiglas”, where the combinations of distorted guitars, hints of piano and simple string moments reach their peak.

“We definitely have a strong desire to experiment,” explains Benvegnù, “and we have to thank Manuel Agnelli, who managed to channel all the experimentation that wasn't leading anywhere constructive. We didn't know which direction to take. Besides being our producer, he was a mentor — he gave us the chance to take a certain path, to evolve. 'Rosemary Plexiglas' is a very heartfelt album, though I don't know if that comes across. I'm afraid that a lot can be sensed in it, but that in the end not much material remains in hand. I believe there are some deeply felt, profound ideas there: the period the record was made in was one of great suffering and illusion.”

In 1998 a four-track Ep titled Vive le Roi was released, produced exclusively on 10″ vinyl in a limited run. It contains two tracks that would later appear on the following album, Armstrong: “L'universo” and “Jetson high speed”, while the other two tracks, “Oblò” and “In dissolvenza”, can only be found on the mini-cd. With this work Scisma hint at the direction their sound would take on Armstrong, rightly described as a hybrid of skewed pop and indie-leaning rock. Released in 1999, the album shows clear maturity in the band, both in the lyrics and in the sound. Twelve precious songs, gliding from the sweetness of “L'innocenza” to the stunning interplay of strings, violin and cello on “Jetson high speed”, with brilliant lyrics (“.ma se sono il contrario di me da che cosa mi sento diverso.”). A dreamlike record, where tracks like “Simmetrie” and “I am the Ocean” (written with Marc Huigens of Venus) give the listener the chance to dissolve into ethereal illusions. But there's no shortage of different tracks, more tied to the past, such as “Tungsteno” and “Troppo poco intelligente”. The closing track, “Good Morning”, once again showcases Sara Mazo's voice, but it's the whole band that made the definitive leap in quality. A record that's certainly challenging, but captivating.

Also interesting is the choice not to sing exclusively in Italian, but to make use of other languages (in this case, English and French), a choice the band explained as follows: “We're convinced that certain expressions are truly untranslatable, that they lose much of their meaning once transposed into another language. That's why we made use of English and French”. Commenting on the album in general, Benvegnù stated: “We managed to diversify the way we express ourselves. Before 'Armstrong' we were a bunch of calculators... 'Armstrong' is a work that scares me, because we laid ourselves bare. It's a clear record, not philosophizing. The choice was to be less alternative, but only to better harmonize sounds and lyrics. It might seem like a difficult record, overly calculated, but I guarantee that when we play 'L'innocenza' live, I feel truly vulnerable, because that's who I am”.

Many years after their last released album, Scisma — on hiatus since 2002 — remain a cult band whose worth is unanimously recognized, even by younger musicians of the following generation.

As proof of an affection that shows no sign of fading, on April 16, 2012, the label Mag-Music released Simmetrie – Un Omaggio agli Scisma, a tribute album collecting 14 reinterpretations of Scisma's catalogue, performed by as many up-and-coming Italian artists, including Il Disordine delle Cose and Desert Motel.

Paolo Benvegnù's rise as a solo artist was the natural outcome of the success of songwriting that was already of outstanding quality on “Rosemary Plexiglas” and “Armstrong”, the band's most acclaimed records, both reissued as double vinyl in 2015 to mark the band's return to the stage with Mr. Newman, a six-track Ep: not a nostalgic event, but rather the transposition into maturity of a path that, if it was lucid back then, is now even more self-aware and accomplished. The return was made possible thanks to the agreement of the group's two voices, Benvegnù and Sara Mazo, without whom a hypothetical reunion would have made little sense. Alongside them are Michela Manfroi's piano and synths, Giorgia Poli's bass, Beppe Mondini's drums, plus Giovanni Ferrario, co-producer and multi-instrumentalist, Alessandro “Asso” Stefana, who added some guitar, Marco Tagliola on programming, Sebastiano De Gennaro on vibraphone and Daniele Richiedei on violin.

The first part of the Ep is thoroughly enjoyable, with the lively introduction of the title track, steeped in the best of Benvegnù's solo work, the endless sweetness of “Neve e resina” and the fun, funky “Darling, Darling!”. But the centerpiece, not just in terms of its physical placement in the tracklist, is “Musica elementare”, the track that best explains the lightness that permeates this work: gone is the old hermeticism, today Scisma intend to have fun telling simple stories. “Metafisici”, a light rock number complete with tremolo guitars, and “Stelle, stelle, stelle”, a delightful closing ballad, are the other tracks rounding out a comeback that is as long-awaited as it is worthy of attention. Following the only three dates announced to present Mr. Newman, in Rome, Bologna and Brescia, we remain eager to find out what the band's next moves, if any, will be.

In reality, the story of Scisma would end here, sealed forever by the sudden passing of Paolo Benvegnù, which occurred on December 31, 2024.

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