LA MUNICIPAL - Per resistere al tuo fianco

The journey that La Municipàl set out on in 2020 with the release of numerous singles gradually took on an ever broader shape, naturally evolving into “Per resistere al tuo fianco”, the quartet's fourth full-length, which gathers all the material released in the preceding months along with additional unreleased tracks.

The album is a vehement declaration of struggle and love, of time passing by and of what truly lies at the foundation of existence. Compared to their previous work, there are signs here bringing the sound closer to what Carmine and Isabella Tundo offer in their live performances, faithfully picking up the artistic approach grounded in the search for authenticity and genuine passion.

Carmine's authorial verve – decidedly Baustelle-esque – in describing personal affairs with restless, tangible clarity, mixed with touches of learned quotation, is by now a well-established trademark. The autobiographical nuances show, now more than ever, a solid maturity, not only artistic, in which the author and the man seem to proceed in perfect symbiosis, each adjusting their attitudes within their respective field of action.

What stands out most compared to the past is a sturdier, almost angrier sonic approach. The songs seem interlinked both conceptually and in their chords and shadings. It's a guise worn perfectly to fit romantic, dark themes that deal with love stories chasing each other across the years as in a temporal loop ("La terza stagione di Dark"), violent liberating actions that serve as a cathartic act ("Al diavolo"), or that moment when, for the first time, the right words are found and allowed to pour out like an overwhelming flood ("Canzone d'addio").

There's no shortage of intimate moments. The melancholy folk ballad "Se io fossi come te cambierei il mondo" is backed by the delicate vocal interplay built by Carmine and Isabella that also fuels "Finisce qui", pointing toward the pleasant realizations that surface once the worst has passed, or as happens in "Che cosa me ne faccio di noi", where the description of relationships reaching their bitter end isn't viewed negatively, but as a new beginning, a rebirth.

The loneliness painted in the shadow of "Fuoriposto", the bitter memories that resurface just when they seemed buried in nothingness in "L'Orsa Maggiore", or the realization of how essential it is to share a relationship, even while pretending to get along just fine alone ("Quando crollerà il governo"), are the perfect litmus test for the effective depth of analysis that the Salento duo has decidedly honed over the years.

La Municipàl is a project in evolution. Genuine songs that keep surfacing between the need to reflect on existential problems and the urge to react, but always channeled along distinctly melancholy paths.

Could this really be the right ambition for living at one's best, for withstanding all difficulties, trends, and people – to paraphrase the ideas expressed on the record – while increasingly strengthening one's own personality?

Trends come and go, even the most sweeping ones, but perhaps the songs of La Municipàl are destined to keep sprouting endlessly through inexhaustible transitory cycles, just as happens to the protagonists of the third season of "Dark".

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27/08/2021