JANG SENATO - Lui ama me, lei ama te

Quantomeno

Ondarock avrà portato loro fortuna. Qualche mese fa ci ritrovavamo a scrivere,

bene, del primo sospirato disco degli Jang Senato, band di pop minimale molto

autoriale e molto romagnola, un disco autoprodotto in cerca di qualcuno con l’orecchio

fino e l’occhio lungo, che avesse il buon senso di prenderselo in carico e distribuirlo

in giro per l’Italy. Il matrimonio alla fine s’è fatto, e a dirla tutta sembra

the most logical and potentially productive marriage there could be.

Avete

presenting Pippola Music, the label of Brunori Sas, Oratio and the rest of that fine crowd? Well, Jang Senato have signed with them. Then again, all it took was listening to the

quindici brani che componevano il corposo album fatto in casa tirato fuori dai

young men in springtime: if their connection with the Pippola isn't a case of elective affinities, little

ci manca. What matters, in any case, is that the record now has a label, more

of higher quality, which for a few weeks now can be bought on iTunes, and

which will also hit record stores in these days. Moreover, compared to the masters

originals, only the title remains, which then mirrored the band's name and now

is “Lui ama me, lei ama te”. What's different is the cover, which no longer

features a portrait of the group but a prelate seen from behind,

from shoulders to legs, rosary in hand. Less, on the other hand, there are a few tracks, a

timely slimming down that can only do the compilation good.

There is

plenty to be satisfied with, in short. Everyone. The Jang Senato, obviously, who

finally crown the talent and effort they have invested over these years. Matteo

Zanobini and his Pippola, too, who keep surrounding themselves with more and more

capable people. And us, finally, who can play the part of

those who had said so. Now all that remains is to take the scissors to

our own review as well. The result is what follows.

The Jang Senato are one of the entities born from the

Ashes of the Daunbailò, a dazed and explosive patchanka band from Romagna

that, around the middle of the last decade, lasted the span of a rather remarkable album.

Worthy heirs, on a par with Valerio Corzani's Ex (Mau Mau, Mazapegul),

who was the grey eminence of the Daunbailò. Today that page is turned for good,

though certain sounds inevitably remain imprinted in their DNA. Today, now that

they finally have a record to hold up a mirror to, Jang Senato can truly

call themselves a finished, fully formed band. That mirror reflects the image of a

tight-knit, talented collective with a clear sense of direction.

Roughly half of the tracks on the

record were already familiar to us. They are the ones played live, the ones in rotation on

their Myspace, with a few extra nuances added here and there.

We already knew “La bomba nucleare,” for instance, a sweet, syncopated lullaby that

would sit comfortably on a Dente record, if Dente liked to fill his songs

with all sorts of effects and unconventional sounds. We also knew “Respirare” better,

a pop gem in which, live after live, the essence of Jang Senato has been concentrated.

Senato mindset: catchy rhythms and melodies, lyrics that are light-hearted yet smart. And

then “Lamericano”, pure irony and energy, probably the track

where the Daunbailò influences are most palpable, and the Elliott Smith-esque “Un

tempo”, another of their old war-horses, with the usual woman causing

heartache, evoked and missed but never losing the urge to laugh,

bitterly, at itself. The opening, in short, is tough going, the voice thick with

Davide “Gulma” Gulmanelli gives substance to a sonic backdrop whose weave

constantly intertwines around the highest notes, the rhythm rising and falling, like the

scales fired off by Alfredo Nuti's guitar in “Lamericano”. A kind of

manifesto of Jangsenatismo: this is who we are, and this is what we do

best.

“Io e te”, after the background noise of “Dish” (now

absorbed into “Un tempo”), moves along the same lines as “Respirare”, with an

airy chorus and a very sixties structure, round and easy, simple as can be but

effective. Then there's the short, romantic "Agata", a light ballad all

little guitars and music boxes, which somewhat recalls the old De Gregori of "Chissà

dove sei", followed by "Tempi buoni", an almost breezy rock steady, somewhere between

Silvestri's "Pozzo dei desideri" and a more watered-down Sublime, and the

carefree mid-tempo of "La coperta". Finally, after the other minimal fragment

that is "Gli amanti nuovi", it closes with the big ballad "Meno di un

treno", ironic and romantic as it couldn't help but be, swing and

stardust.

This record was a coming-of-age test. For Gulma's

songwriting, for the choices made in the arrangements, and ultimately to understand

which direction these Jang Senato intended to go. Well, the test

has been passed. Romagna is fertile ground for songcraft, and the five

senators come from a furrow in tradition that they wanted to widen,

thoroughly muddy up and divert. And while a summer ago there remained the question mark

of a label still to be sorted out and a contract still to be signed, now even the last

reserve is dissolved. Now comes the good part. Hard to find a reason why we

shouldn't be hearing a lot more from Jang Senato.

Ride the wave of great music

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10/01/2011