What better metaphor could Post Nebbia have chosen to title their new album than “Pista Nera”?
The search for conceptual titles is a now consolidated stylistic feature for the Paduan band led by Carlo Corbellini.
If with the previous “Entropia Padrepio” they had explored an almost liturgical disorder, with “Pista Nera” Post Nebbia push themselves towards a more competitive dimension, a manifesto of intent that reveals the ambition to face arduous and technical descents, exploring territories unexplored sounds and themes.
However, the Pista Nera is also a consequence, a result. The album was born between the walls of an apartment in a dormitory neighborhood of Turin and those of a house immersed in the mountain landscape of the Dolomites. It is no coincidence that skiing – the album's visual theme, represented on the cover by a photo of Corbellini's mountaineer great-grandfather – becomes an ideal metaphor for the album's leitmotif.
The slopes, once a symbol of progress and well-being, are today surrounded by arid and bare terrain, the plastic embodiment of a failed utopia and man's clumsy attempt to fake a well-being that has now clearly collapsed.
The tracks of “Pista Nera” are an intense path in the Italian sound avant-garde, between cutting irony and disarming bitterness.
There is no room for easy consolations: every note, every verse is a piece that reveals the vertigo of a bitter awareness, that of inevitable decline. Yet, the strength of the album lies precisely in this ruthless sincerity. As in Greek tragedy, the inevitability of failure is not a point of arrival but an opportunity to reflect, question priorities and seek change.
Musically, “Pista Nera” is the result of an evolution that unites past and present, without giving up the DIY aesthetic that characterizes the band. Influences range from the nervous and angular punk of new wave (Talking Heads, Gang of Four) to the roughness of new garage and heavy psych (Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees), passing through krautrock and Brazilian MPB of the 60s -'70, which emerges between vocal melodies, bass lines and percussive suggestions.
It is a sound that does not pamper, but shakes, alternating abrasive and tight passages with psychedelic drifts that open a space for introspection.
Once again Post Nebbia manage to open a new sound panorama for Italian music that looks to alternative pop but above all to the new trends of international indie music.
TRACK BY TRACK
Leonardo – Narrative introduction that captivates the listener with a recorded voice coming from a shelter. It immediately evokes the world of Pista Nera, introducing the theme of the album with a suspended and mysterious atmosphere.
I don't know – It reminds me a bit of Beck due to the combination of krautrock influences, South American rhythms and synths with a desert atmosphere. It expresses the collapse of the myth of an ideal future, one of the main leitmotifs of the album.
Shortcrust pastry – A song of profound disenchantment, amplified by a kamikaze solo that underlines his rebellious spirit.
Pyramid – Incisive metaphor of human arrogance and our inability to recognize our own and others' limits.
State nature – Describes an out-of-control apocalypse through suggestive and disturbing images. Reminiscent of Bluvertigo!
Super Discount – Paints a picture of lazy, surreal decadence, contrasting with the chaos of other songs.
Yellow – Claustrophobic representation of pollution, not only environmental but also spiritual, with a suffocating atmosphere.
Ingot -Ironises the utopia of the train as a symbol of social progress, unmasking its contradictions.
Kent Brockman -Direct reference to the Simpsons and criticism of manipulated and anesthetized information, which hides reality.
Town Hall – Sci-fi vision of a monster that devours entire buildings, symbol of the transience of human efficiency and superiority.
Black Track – The title track surprisingly blends punk new wave, bossanova and Brazilian pop music. He denounces the sugar-coated reality of holiday resorts, representing the human inability to accept his own decline.
Clear Night – Final song that takes up the theme of the album. It asks us to consciously experience human decline, abandoning illusions and facing reality with clarity.
SCORE: 7.75
1. Leonardo – Rating 7.50
2. I don't know – Rating 8.00
3.Pastafrolla – Rating 7.50
4. Pyramid – Rating 7.25
5. Statonatura – Score 7,oo
6. Super Discount – Rating 7,oo
7. Yellow – Rating 7.25
8. Ingot – Rating 7.00
9. Kent Brockman – Rating 7.50
10. Town Hall Rating 7.00
11. Black Track – Rating 7.50
12. Clear Night – Rating 7.25
TO LISTEN NOW
I don't know – Kent Brockman – Pista Nera
TO BE SKIPPED IMMEDIATELY
38 minutes of good music serves to regenerate from useless daily listening!
