Dargen D’Amico, for his new album “Ciao America”, wanted to make a super condensation of social suggestions seasoned with a salad of musical styles.
As he himself mentions, it is the DNA sampling of this era, a photograph of the world we are living in, an interpretation of the metamorphoses of the human being, increasingly consumed by a contradictory, cynical and disillusioned society.
There’s everything in there from a musical point of view. A kaleidoscope of references and influences that come across all genres: from pop to combed urban, from reggaeton to almost edm electronica.
A record that seems to be generated by Dargent’s practice at XFactor and resulting from his thousand assignments.
The sound discourse must be immediately differentiated from the lyrical one.
If in terms of sounds and beats “Ciao America” is just enough, in terms of lyrics it excels.
Dargen perfectly manages to create a set of autobiographical images, personal suggestions and general reflections that create a narrative that is never banal and predictable and full of hidden meanings, an album that immortalizes social changes, making fun of the disillusions and attitudes of human beings , from simple everyday situations to more powerful issues that concern the entire society.
A dense and intense but at the same time light and pop album that further defines Dargen’s musical profile and the sonic path that he has been taking for years now.
All while waiting for Sanremo…
TRACK BY TRACK
High Wave, the song competing at the 74th edition of the Sanremo Festival. A profound piece that talks about immigration and resilience and tries to capture the historical moment we are experiencing, revealing the importance of finally addressing the problems, also looking for ourselves in other people.
Half Of Something the text is layered, at first listening the brilliance of the melodic part emerges, but the piece is permeated by a lucid melancholy, which arises from the awareness that we are not enough on our own. The analysis continues on the concept of time, lived intensely or allowed to pass (“For some of us, death lasts a lifetime”). The song sees the collaboration with the rapper Rkomi and the singer-songwriter Vincenzo Fasano. Three very different voices but which complement each other in the alternation of registers.
Complicate your life tells of the difficulties of a relationship that seems to have come to an end, when however it is still difficult to step aside, one is caught between the desire to remain tied and the need to move on and the memory of what one has been clashes with this who we have become now. The track is embellished by the melancholic scratch of Beatrice Quinta, in the chorus, and by Guè with his unmistakable flow. The last collaboration between him and DARGEN D’AMICO took place in 2003, on Club Dogo’s debut album.
Goose bumpsa previously released song, driven by a hypnotic production, which celebrates the marriage between Indian string instruments, 90s hip hop and reggaeton, in which DARGEN D’AMICO’s unmistakable pen continually gives life to three-dimensional images.
Electronic Energy which evokes the atmosphere of 90s rave music and invites you to let yourself go in life and on the dance floor.
6 in the evening is framed by soul music sounds contaminated by singer-songwriter music, the lyrics of “6 Di Sera” give voice to the restlessness that arises from a feeling born by chance, a love that began as if for fun only for “hunger for novelty”, but which for a few moments manage to give meaning to the experience.
The keya song with a vaguely ’80s sound in which the artist provides an emotional comparison between today’s society and that of yesterday, reviewing ways of doing and living, highlighting the contradictions and the indolence in taking on responsibility , simply hoping that everything will pass without upsetting our lives too much but, at the same time, without being active and participating in what happens to us.
The drop that DARGEN D’AMICO talks about in the next piece is the one that leaks from humanity’s tap, which God almost seems to have forgotten about. A text that is at times onomatopoeic, strong and direct; sharp and impactful words in a song that takes on the connotation of a prayer, in which the artist describes the vulnerability of an increasingly fragile suburb.
Check in is full of disillusionment and cynicism pervades. A particularly introspective episode, in which DARGEN D’AMICO meditates on the condition of the human being and the problems arising from life in contemporary society. The shadows of adulthood come to the surface in a personal piece, which anyone who has looked inside can relate to.
1000 people there are electronic sounds and muffled dance atmospheres accompany the lyrics of the following track, a song in which DARGEN D’AMICO, starting from the story of a teacher oppressed by his students, reflects on the pressure of the expectations that others project onto us, up to the psychological trap of social media notoriety, often a double-edged sword due to people’s ephemeral sense of devotion. Paranoia soon sets in, because “1000 people” are “too many to make love but too few to say it’s a religion”.
Mud Pact instead it talks about the difficult relationship with an unresolved father, photographed from an extremely personal point of view, in which the artist is not afraid to also show his own vulnerabilities, while always maintaining the inspired irony that characterizes the scratch of his pen.
1/2 Kilo it is the weight of our heart, increasingly tired and intolerant, which drags along the traumas of the past and tries to come to terms with a present devoid of certainties, placing its trust in only apparent progress, which does not fill the increasingly void unbridgeable in the human soul.
Life X Alwayswhich is the quote on the nave of a church where the woman protagonist of the song takes refuge, in whose life paranoia has now replaced youthful strength of spirit, but in which the hope of a better future that appears in a moment of faith and yet disappears the next moment.
SCORE TRACK BY TRACK: RATING 6.00
High Wave – Rating 7.00
Half of Something – Rating 7.00
Complicating your life – Rating 5.00
Goosebumps – Rating 5.50
6 in the evening – Rating 7.00
The Key – Rating 6.00
The Drop – Rating 5.50
Check-In – Rating 6.00
1000 people – Rating 5.50
Mud Pact – Rating 5.50
1/2 Kilo – Rating 5.50
Vita X Always – Rating 6.00
TO LISTEN NOW
High Wave – Half of Something – 6 PM
TO BE SKIPPED IMMEDIATELY
But one listen is enough! Some songs will remain.
