X - Smoke & Fiction

Dark is so dark without your spark

La grande X infuocata torna ancora a splendere per illuminare come un sole nero il cielo della città degli angeli. Exena Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom e DJ Bonebrake sono di nuovo in pista, ma questa volta sembra essere arrivato il tempo del loro ultimo giro.

Sorride beffarda l’altra America, quella dei perdenti, con un ghigno simile a quello stampato sul viso di Billy Zoom e riprende a far sentire la sua voce attraverso le ugole di Exena e John Doe.

The fury is still the same, a blend of punk and rock'n'roll just lightly tinged with a splash of country tradition, the same fury that has accompanied us since their debut with “Los Angeles” in '80 all the way to “Alphabetland” in 2020, released after 27 years of silence.

Gli alfieri del movimento punk californiano raramente deludono e anche “Smoke & Fiction” non è certo un figlio minore della loro produzione. Alimentati dallo stesso veleno che nutre gran parte del rock indipendente, gli storytelling degli X puntano i riflettori sempre sui luoghi oscuri di una Los Angeles tormentata e le loro canzoni diventano una pozione per rendere dolci anche le amarezze di vite difficili ai margini della società opulenta.

Sarà perché l’età dei vari membri della band avanza inesorabile o perché siamo probabilmente arrivati alla loro ultima fatica discografica, ma in “Smoke & Fiction” arriva prepotente anche una sorta di nostalgia per quello che era la scena della città agli esordi della carriera della band.

From Errol Flynn's abandoned mansion on the Hollywood hills to the roar of bikers' motorcycles on the Sunset Strip, “Big Black X” raises a loud echo of the memories from the years when the band took its first steps, just as in the measured rhythms of “The Way It Is”, one of the most compelling tracks on “Smoke & Fiction”, where John Doe's warm voice reassures us he has no regrets, because things went exactly as they were meant to.

I still pray a little bit

But there’s no saint for this

I still pray a little bit

But there’s no words for this

On the title track “Smoke & Fiction”, disillusionment takes centre stage, carried by Exene's edgy voice, which, after a lifetime spent knocking on heaven's door trying to convince the world to change course, arrives at the realisation that no one will ever come to open it.

Urban desolation doesn't fail to make its presence felt on “Sweet Til The Bitter End” and “Winding Up The Time”, as Billy Zoom's incendiary riffs tear through the night like sirens and the voices of Exene and John Doe chase each other in a mad dash from the freeways to sublet houses amid the squalid yards with their broken-down fences. The characters the band tells of always move like ghosts beneath hostile skies, fighting in a desperate search for their lost souls amid troubled relationships, absences and dark sides.

John Doe's bass held knee-high, fatal redhead Exene's tex-mex outfits, their unmistakable vocal blend, the endless creativity of Billy Zoom's guitar and DJ's drive pushing everything along at breakneck speed: if “Smoke & Fiction” really does turn out to be their last record, we'll miss all of this, and it won't be easy to replace. And so the letter X will remain a code that, for some, stands for anonymity and nothingness, and for others, an entire world not to be forgotten.

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09/08/2024