SUZ - Shape Of Fear And Bravery

Listening to Suz's debut album, the first impression is of being catapulted back into the 90s, into some undefined zone between England and the far north. What predominates is an electronic groove drawn from the iconic bands that made trip-hop great (Massive Attack above all), but listening more closely we realize just how thoroughly that musical era has been digested and metabolized, and how much that is fresh and authentic emerges instead in the arrangements, in the way the lyrics and melodies are built, and in the fairy-tale echoes that keep resurfacing.

The biggest revelation is discovering that Suz has no Nordic roots, nor is she a Bristol leftover: born Susanna La Polla, she's a singer from Bologna who lived through those 90s by collaborating with the finest names on the Italian underground music scene, from Papa Ricky (with whom she recorded two albums) to Katzuma (Deda of Sangue Misto), from Godzilla to Riccardo Pedrini's Sushi A La Suntory (ex-Nabat member and writer for the Wu Ming collective). And so these fragments of life, these "matters of fear and courage" she tells us about, take shape steeped in these musical references, blended and reshuffled to produce something that feels unusually original in this day and age, and in our little Italy.

The album was born from the collaboration between Susanna, musician El Reverendo M and harpist Duccio Lombardi, and was excellently produced by the newly founded No.Mad Records, run by Ezra (ex Royality Records). The rest of the artistic lineup also comes from Casino Royale: Alessiomanna plays bass on five tracks, and Ezra himself mixed the album. In short, a string of notable names who brought dynamism and energy to the songs, pulling that underlying trip-hop into a whirlwind of eclecticism where electronic, dubstep, synth-pop, chill-out and nu jazz all spin together. Yet what truly dominates, above every instrument, is Suz's voice, skillfully processed with effects yet always graceful and controlled.

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12/02/2010