MARIA CHIARA ARGIRÒ - Leaving

The widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike received by Maria Chiara Argirò thanks to her most recent solo works, “Forest City” and “Closer”, has also helped turn the spotlight onto the London-based side project she shares with drummer Riccardo Chiaberta. Artistically together since 2020, the pair craft a refined blend of contemporary electronic music and jazz improvisation, while not shying away from pleasant detours into indie-rock territory. “Leaving” is their second EP, arriving just over a year after their debut “Nest Of Giant” and only a few weeks after the single “Endless Dive”. “Leaving” contains five original tracks plus a cover of one of the most beloved songs from the Portished catalogue, “The Rip”, originally featured on the Bristol outfit's third album.

Constantly balanced between groove and melody, the EP shapes its own personal combinations of piano, synth and drums, favouring refined arrangements enriched by the presence of a horn section. The overall mood doesn't stray too far from Argirò's solo recordings, but here the result remains strictly instrumental, a sequence of intimate dialogues that not infrequently spill over into intense collective explosions.

The opening track, “Giske”, takes its title from the location in Norway where the EP was recorded, and comes very close to the songwriting style of Thom Yorke/Smile. The mood turns more nocturnal with the exquisitely elegant “Pillow”, while the title track is a dream-pop enchantment from which Alex Hitchcock's tenor saxophone emerges with real force, returning, alongside the rest of the horns (Rich Muscat on alto sax and Rosie Turton on trombone), in the gripping crescendo of “Peaceful Warrior”, which closes out in a genuine explosion of sound.

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23/01/2025