PAOLO SAPORITI - La mia falsa identità

One of the most thrilling situations for a music lover is still feeling joy when, scanning the lists of upcoming releases, you spot artists who in the past gave you intense emotions and whom you'd guiltily somewhat neglected in the years that followed.

That's exactly what happened upon reading the announcement of the forthcoming new album by Paolo Saporiti, the refined Milanese singer-songwriter who has just turned fifty and who, with this new work titled "La mia falsa identità" — his ninth studio album — has most likely made his best record to date.

Accompanied by the fine graphic design and packaging work of Alessandro Adelio Rossi, the album gathers the full essence and personal experience of the Lombard artist, a remarkable achievement born of a colossal workload spread over a long production process and enriched by some notable artistic contributions.

What emerges unmistakably from listening to the twenty tracks that make up this sprawling work is the attention to detail, the skill and the qualities that Paolo — author of all the lyrics and music — displays in every piece that shapes even the most hidden corner of the project.

The Lombard artist's lyrics prove to be — though they always have been, even back when at the outset he preferred to express himself in English — a jewel worn with elegance, in its Sunday best, the one reserved for special occasions: personal, deep, emotional reflections mixed with an eye open to the meticulous scrutiny of the surrounding world, or the vivid ability to weave together suggestions tied to real lived experiences, both joyful and tragic, or outright flights of fancy used to let the writer's mind wander.

Across the two distinct chapters that make up the work, titled respectively "Lo sfratto" and "La zattera", those lyrics — so attentive and never banal — are bolstered by a musical framework always suited to the context, bringing together different flavors and multiple sonic derivations, also displayed with great mastery, always guided by the notes of his ever-present acoustic guitar and his wide-ranging voice, equally skilled at revealing its sweeter, more modulated side as its warmer, powerful and vigorous one.

We mentioned the two subtitles given to the records: "Lo sfratto" and "La zattera", two identifiers that are anything but random. The first has a double meaning, pointing both to the classic definition of people being evicted from their home, and, far less obviously, to the name of a traditional sweet from Pitigliano, a town in the province of Grosseto, which recalls a historical tradition associated with a sorrowful memory. The second chapter, meanwhile, references Théodore Géricault's painting "La zattera della Medusa" ("The Raft of the Medusa"), depicting the wreck of the French frigate Méduse; a case that caused a huge stir at the time, involving a ship sunk off the French coast whose survivors resorted to acts of cannibalism in the name of survival.

Sonically, as mentioned earlier, the album is defined by the iconic meeting of acoustic guitar and Saporiti's voice, the close relationship woven with sweeping orchestration and electronics, as well as all the groundwork laid during the past "Acini live" project, carried out with Alberto N. A. Turra on electric guitar and Lucio Sagone on drums, both of whom also appear on this record.

The string arrangements contributed by cellist Stefano Cabrera (Gnu Quartet) and the carefully sketched electronics added by producer Raffaele Abbate make "La mia falsa identità" a well-balanced record, inspired by an underlying, composite abstraction that makes it extremely timely — in an era where disorder, diversity, the paradox of identity and the collapse of ideals permeate everyday life in every respect.

Analyzing and rating the individual tracks on the album would be a completely wrong approach, and perhaps disrespectful to the enormous collective effort put in by Saporiti, but a few points are worth highlighting. In a track like "Grandi verità", for instance, the sheer intensity delivered by the acoustic notes, rounded out by the strings and the electronic inlays placed at the close, immediately offers some of the most important keys to reading the whole record; the same goes for "Il bacio di Giuda", where it's the orchestral crescendo that drives the scene.

In "Vince lei", hints of blues and folk-rock push the needle in different directions, with Paolo's intriguing falsetto sealing a full-bodied, vivid atmosphere, pointedly woven for thoughts that affirm his love of music. In the video, the Milanese artist grapples with various opposing souls taking turns with one another: the darkest sides against the sunniest and brightest ones, good set against evil, in a continuous confrontation-clash. The one who comes out on top is the singer-songwriter figure, the only one able to chart his own fate.

"Tu con chi stai?" is a passage built on understated electronics mixed with icy, celestial electric guitar notes, designed to accompany Saporiti's chameleonic vocal performance, formidable in moving from more intimate passages to grittier ones: a voice of a thousand facets.

The driving rhythms of "Muore un'altra balena", the rough, at times psychedelic textures of "Be Your God", the valuable contribution of Mario Arcari and his oboe enriching "Un sogno ancora da inventare", and the acoustic-electronic blends of "Lettera dal plotone" lead into "Sei bellissima/La dignità di Elena", a solid pivot around which the whole record turns, where Paolo recalls — perhaps also to exorcise that horrific moment that struck his family — a well-known episode that made major headlines at the time, dating back to 3 July 1956, when an apprentice who had been fired a few years earlier murdered, out of revenge, Saporiti's great-grandparents, a great-uncle and a police sergeant in their bakery.

A heartfelt letter from a father to his son ("Mio figlio e il rallentatore di passi") opens the second disc, which in "L'autobomba" experiences one of its most vibrant moments, thanks to the presence of the Gnu Quartet ensemble, true masters at redefining the standard concept of the string quartet.

The orchestral crescendo of "Lucciole", the distinctive sound blends of "La versione di Penelope" and "Ti cambierò il destino" serve as a tasty appetizer to the diptych "So navigare benissimo"/"Sai nuotare benissimo", the first part harsh and dominant in both lyrics and music, the second much softer and more graceful, devoted to describing the serious hardships experienced by so many in recent years.

The closing track, "Falce nera", with its extraordinary acoustic harmonies set apart by near-operatic textures, and the truths — at times illusory — with which the title track is forged, round off a precious work, in which the Milanese artist amply demonstrates that outposts of singer-songwriter craft worth celebrating for quality, commitment, personality, courage and that touch of madness that should never be held hostage to dreams, fortunately still exist.

Paolo Saporiti may well have false identities — to paraphrase the album's title — but having channeled them into such a moving, rare and complete work, proving he has absolute command of the modern role of the singer-songwriter, is a privilege we all have the chance to witness.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

08/11/2023