SI! BOOM! VOILÀ - Sì! Boom! Voilà!

There has been much anticipation surrounding the debut of Sì! Boom Voilà!, not least because it's been billed as the new project involving a genuine icon of Italian alternative rock, Roberta Sammarelli, the long-revered bassist of Verdena, who only last October announced she was leaving the band. In recent times she'd already won praise as part of Motta's backing band, but now, for the first time, there's a chance to see her take centre stage, right from the songwriting phase of new material.

But Sì! Boom Voilà! actually presents itself as a full-blown supergroup. Roberta isn't alone: alongside her is Giulio "Ragno" Favero, another brilliant mind of the Italian alt-rock scene of the last thirty years, both as a musician and as a sought-after producer. Their presence alone would make this an absolutely compelling proposition, but the line-up is completed by the voice of N.A.I.P. (Michelangelo Mercuri), the drumming of Giulia Formica (Baustelle) and guitarist Davide Lasala.

In fact, the five musicians have recently had the chance to explain how the partnership began during the pandemic, collaborating remotely via Zoom, at first just for fun, purely as a pastime, then in an increasingly organised and defined way. Until, with the decisive addition of N.A.I.P., they decided to record everything and start putting their tracks out into the world. In the closing months of 2025, in quick succession, came "Pinocchio" and "Voilà", two songs that manage to condense the raw impetuousness of Il Teatro degli Orrori with a distinctive ironic-political streak.

That ironic streak aims straight for the target without mincing words, voicing anger at the current political and social situation and resignation over the difficulties inherent in the music business, now ruled entirely by numbers. Musically, this is a project with an evident post-hardcore matrix (tell me the opening of "Mentre succhiamo" doesn't recall Fugazi), a fine wall of guitar sound propped up by a sturdy rhythm section, with N.A.I.P.'s voice seeking a synthesis capable of combining Pierpaolo Capovilla, Giovanni Succi and — I'd add — Appino.

An album that carves out its own personal space within the contemporary alt-rock landscape, doing so by quoting the Lucio Dalla of "Disperato erotico stomp" in "Voilà" and the Roberto Vecchioni of "Sogna ragazzo sogna" in "Gogna ragazzo gogna"; even the "Buongiorno Italy" that opens "Vivere così" is meant as a tribute to the everyday Italian-ness sung about in the Eighties by Toto Cutugno. But it's always the guitars steering the journey, taking an unmistakably nineties sound and carrying it into the present, without slipping into excessive nostalgia.

Only twice does the relentless alt-(punk)-rock momentum give way to a more pronounced melodic streak: on "Lavori in corso" (with guitar interplay recalling post-rock and the essential synthesising work of Massimo Volume), and on the closing "Da zero", where Roberta Sammarelli takes absolute centre stage. Her singing is still fairly tentative, but it reveals just how central the bassist's role is within the band's overall makeup.

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24/01/2026