STEFANO GUZZETTI - In A Strange Place

The elegant noir neoclassicism of Italian musician Stefano Guzzetti has yet to receive the critical and public acclaim it deserves, but with “In A Strange Place” that may be about to change.
For the Cagliari-born pianist, the time has come to reap the rewards of more than fifteen years of under-the-radar recording activity, thanks to a project as ambitious as it is accomplished.
The album is a heartfelt tribute to one of the most important figures on the 1980s recording scene, Ivo Watts-Russell, and in particular to the project This Mortal Coil, the esoteric and spiritual outfit put together by the 4AD manager with a rich and ever-changing cast of voices and musicians, and a repertoire made up largely of covers (among the songwriters featured, Nick Drake, Roy Harper, Tim Buckley and Syd Barrett).

The three This Mortal Coil albums left a deep mark on musical culture, not just in the English-speaking world but here in Italy too; it's no surprise, then, that for this project Guzzetti enlisted artists who were part of the 4AD family – Emma Anderson (Lush), Dominic Appleton (Breathless, This Mortal Coil), Heidi Berry, Paula Frazer (Tarnation), Ian Masters (Pale Saints) – and followed the same methodology as Ivo Watts-Russell, digging into the back catalogues of artists from the past.
Yet the Italian pianist's artistic vision is different, more intimate and delicate, better suited to a musically fluid and cohesive work: just piano, strings and small electronic touches, for an album with tones less gothic than its source of inspiration, and emotionally more reflective and descriptive.

“In A Strange Place” is a record that seems to want to offer a momentary escape from everyday horrors. The album's first two minutes and forty-five seconds (the track titled “Shelter”) unfold over melancholy notes, where the joyful voices of children give way to the chaos of war and bombing. That what follows should be the notes of Nick Drake's “Northern Sky”, beautifully interpreted by Anne Garner, is no accident: the words take on a new, poignant meaning: "I've never known such wild magic, I've never seen the moon, I've never known the meaning of the sea, nor have I ever held an emotion in the palm of my hand, nor have I ever felt a gentle breeze atop a tree, but now you're here, light up my northern sky". And pure magic is what follows, with Dominic Appleton on great form, a respectful interpreter of David J's “I Hear Only Silence Now” and poignant and evocative on the splendid version of John Martyn's “Don’t You Go”; Paula Frazer's contribution, writing and performing the spiritual folk of “What Is And Was”, is of equal intensity and noir splendour.

For Stefano Guzzetti, this is the right occasion to showcase a talent that is not only technical but also conceptual: “In A Strange Place” is closer to a mini-symphony than to a collection of songs and instrumental interludes, a record to be appreciated both for the excellent sonic bridges provided by Pieter Nooten (“Several Times”), Brian Eno (“An Ending”) and Newman & Lewis (“Alone”), and for the vocal performances of Emma Anderson and Heidi Berry (Steve Miller's “Love’s Riddle”).
To close the album, Guzzetti includes an ancient Maori song of tradition and peace, recorded during his honeymoon: one last glimmer of hope crowning one of the most evocative works of this closing stretch of the year's releases. An album that This Mortal Coil fans can't afford to ignore, but one that will strike a chord in many hearts and minds too.

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17/10/2026