It is an “Augmented Reality” that musically conceptualized by Subsonica to write the seal of their album number ten.
An identifying album that has all the typical elements of the Turin band: rhythm, sound and words, foundations on which the unmistakable Subsonica style has been based for thirty years.
THE WORDS
The band’s “Augmented Reality” is made of sounds of the past and sounds of the future and is composed of eleven mature and lyrically committed songs that exude current affairs, concerns and the daily anxieties of five fifty-year-olds dealing with a being of the mature adults, often disoriented, but always looking for answers and truth.
The album is a story of the fragility of a globalized present – they explain – a world that exposes us to extreme climatic effects, which has returned to shock us with wars and which knocks on our borders with a daily life full of misery, hope and desperation. An “augmented reality” to which, paradoxically, we have begun to respond with growing disperception between denials, distorted readings, virtual escapes and lack of humanity. This “augmented reality” would seem to push us towards individual and individualistic isolation, rather than suggesting collective actions and responses, the only ones capable of protecting us since we have inhabited this planet.
THE SOUND
From a musical point of view, Subsonica goes through their sonic history and starts again from “Microchip Emozionale”. It ranges from the extreme, dark and distorted electronica of the opening track (Human Dogs)passing through the penetrating bass and house pianos (Light morning), from the strings and orchestrations of Davide Rossi which are contaminated with keyboards and beating drums (Universe), up to the liquid and languid atmospheres (Missiles and drones), to uptempo urban with Willie Peyote, Ensi (The Bubble Bursts) and jazzy sounds and funky guitars (Africa on Mars), the obsessive electro with dub undertones (Hail) or acoustic atmospheres (Vitiligo).
Closing the circle is the dystopian and noir atmosphere that closes this last act of Subsonica (Slowly).
Subsonica still sound great… and there’s a real need for them these days!
TRACK BY TRACK
HUMAN DOGS
Toxic relationship / cancellation / loss of self / helplessness / addiction / patriarchal morality / chains / shame / pain / atonement / liberation / faith / rebirth.
LIGHT MORNING
Unstable balance / sexual orientation / gender dysphoria / imprisonment / prejudices / dogmas / sense of guilt / gas and dust nebulae / transformation / birth of a star / metamorphosis / transition / rights / courage / recognition / search for peace.
FIST OF SAND
Aging society / nostalgia for the past / traditionalism / ideology / closure / ethnic substitution / conspiracy theories / one million young Italians and second generation Italians / future / difficult dreams / racism / denied citizenship / denied identities.
UNIVERSE
Difficult relationship, with a person in constant conflict with himself and with the world / infinite space / microscopic architectures of life / the speed of people / time that escapes / existence / feelings / daily invisibility / hopes placed in every single gesture.
NO FAULT
The guilt of being born in the wrong corners of the world / wars / famines / persecutions / flight / search for acceptable conditions / indifference / market of hatred / political consensus / capitalization of power on the backs of the poorest / daily tragedies / speculation / self-absolution.
MISSILES AND DRONES
Civilization of performance / ambition / competition / visibility / aggression / careerism / renunciation / extraneousness / abandonment / dissolution.
THE BUBBLE BURSTS
Demagogy / simplifications / problematic relationships with reality / conspiracy theories / denialism / induced polarizations / sectarianism / verbal violence / discredit of information / weakening of democracy in the age of social media.
AFRICA ON MARS
Africa / 1960s / Zambian Space Program / Edward Makuka Nkoloso plans to send “Afronauts” on aluminum rockets to the Moon and Mars to beat the USA and USSR in the conquest of space / madness / retrofuturism / current disappearance of forms of utopia / sunset of collective challenges and dreams / fragmentation / individualism / vulnerability / an increasingly fragile world.
HAIL
Summer / storm / a sudden relationship / attraction / the sensuality of disorder / city / climatic upheavals.
VITILIGO
An intimately personal story / things left unsaid, unresolved / increase in autoimmune diseases / the body that speaks / the desire to heal.
SLOWLY
Cinema / soundtrack / noir / Rome in flames / climate dystopia / black out / Sollima / end credits.
QUOTES
If the sea sinks into a child’s throat
If the killer is hiding in the mirror
Always deny everything once again
No blame, no blame.
SCORE TRACK BY TRACK: 7.50
1. Human Dogs – Rating 7.50
2. Morning of Light – Rating 7.50
3. Fist of Sand – Rating 7.50
4. Universe – Rating 7.50
5. No Fault – Rating 7.00
6. Missiles and Drones – Rating 7.25
7. Burst the Bubble feat. Willie Peyote, Ensi – Rating 7.25
8. Africa on Mars – Rating 6.50
9. Hail – Rating 7.50
10. Vitiligo – Rating 7.25
11. Adagio – Rating 7.50
TO LISTEN NOW
Morning of Light – Universe – Hail
TO BE SKIPPED IMMEDIATELY
It’s a pleasure to listen to the album. I recommend pumping the system a little!
TRACKLIST
THE DISCOGRAPHY
1997 – Subsonica
1999 – Emotional microchip
2002 – Amorematico
2005 – Terrestrial
2007 – The eclipse
2011 – Eden
2014 – A ship in a forest
2018 – 8
2020 – Instrumental mental
2024 – Augmented Reality
