THE SINGER IS DEAD - \

Lifting the lid on the great cauldron of Italian post-rock is no simple task, which is why almost no one has precisely set out to really understand its evolutions and facets. What is certain is that the creature of brothers Luca and Dario Doldi, The Singer Is Dead, belongs squarely within it. The band debuted in 2014 with a self-titled EP. Three years later, we find ourselves facing their first LP, titled "\" (to be read as two).

The very name The Singer Is Dead highlights one of the aspects of "post" culture: the move beyond old rock canons in pursuit of new, and even opposite, ones. The post that has reduced the voice to a mere whisper or eliminated it altogether, that has abolished the concept of the riff, that has radically altered the role of the guitar compared to more traditional rock, an instrument that nonetheless remains absolutely central in the music of these Milanese players. If the movement taken to its extreme leads to abandoning the guitar as the very symbol of traditional rock, that is not the case with The Singer Is Dead.

Instrumental post-rock, without a doubt, but among the many, wildly different post bands that made the history and fortune of this (non-)movement, the Milanese group, at first listen, seems to draw most on the sounds of Mogwai. Yet, as the listening goes on, one realizes that, while starting from the Scots' imagery, the power of certain sounds also ties The Singer Is Dead to the early days of American post-rock, the kind still closely bound to the aggressiveness of hardcore. The mix of impetuousness and refinement of sound results in a flawless production that moves from God Is An Astronaut, passing through June Of 44 and Slint.

The opener “S T Q T” kicks off right away with an intro that would have been perfect on the recent album by Mogwai, but which in its final stretch reaches a speed and force the Scots abandoned long ago. “Q L N V” is perhaps their most important track, with a chilling epic finale and a constant dialogue between guitars. The structure of the tracks remains similar, but, in some moments of “S C N V” for example, the influence of the Canadians Godspeed You! Black Emperor is clearly audible. Grandeur swells in the chaotic finale of “R Y L B”, leading to the almost metal-like violent explosions of “L C T R”, which also reveal a move towards melody.

Essential for fans of the history of the post-rock movement over the last 25 years.

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27/11/2017