CUT - Second Skin

The premises for talking enthusiastically about the new album from the Bologna-based outfit all seem to be in place. Twenty years of activity behind them, twenty years spent, as they themselves put it, on the wrong side of the street, can only give you thick skin and a considerable amount of experience, especially when that wrong side hasn't always been the same one, but has crossed different junctions, always off the beaten path.

The new work by Cut takes shape as a second (as in new) skin — not by chance the title — drawing on all the souls that have been part of the band over the years, and it's also a kind of tribute to the band's own music, which by now has become a second (as in alternative) skin compared to that of the individual musicians. Among the various guests on this "Second Skin" we find Mike Watt, bass and vocals for the Minutemen, the band behind the unforgettable masterpiece "Double Nickels On The Dime" and bassist for the Stooges between 2003 and 2014, and Stefano Pilia, guitarist with Massimo Volume since 2008. Beyond these, a great many different figures have had a hand in creating the twelve tracks, which has helped heighten that sense of multiformity in a work that, on the surface, doesn't seem all that varied.

Although it's decidedly lacking in power, it's precisely the stylistic variety packed into these notes that is the strong point of the Bologna band's new effort: minimalist, rebellious post-hardcore intertwined with hints of ramshackle post-punk and cold, nihilistic Anglophone alternative-rock, laced with that healthy dose of Italian-ness that comes from a certain tendency to favor melody over noisy sonic cacophony. And yet there's a lot here that fails to convince: those glimpses of art-rock that seem to say "I want to but I don't" don't convince; the recording and overall sound of the record, which comes across as "homemade" without the genuine sturdiness that "homemade" should imply, don't convince; the songs, still at the sketch stage, don't convince; and, as has always been the case with Cut, neither does the performance side of things nor the choice of sounds.

In short, the premises for talking about a great comeback from Cut would all be there — but this time, that's really not the case.

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14/03/2017