QUEL CHE NON DICI

"Quel che non dici" is the first full length album by Sicilian band ArcaMiri and it was released in 2019 with a consolidated line up featuring Vincenzo Arisco (drums), Peppe Capodieci (bass), Simona Minniti (vocals, synthesizers) and Ivan Ricciardi (piano, synthesizers). It confirms all the good qualities of their previous debut EP, "Contatto" (2018), with an elegant mix of classical influences, avant-garde, jazz and progressive rock sprinkled with a touch of electronica and various Mediterranean flavours that could recall different bands and artists such as Opus Avantra, Matia Bazar or Franco Battiato...

The opener "L'adesso" (Right now) blends electronica and rock and every now and again could recall the clever early eighties synth pop of Matia Bazar. It's a disquieting piece where the music and lyrics evoke the painful contrast between illusions and reality and the need to clash against the obstacles of life to understand where is the good and the evil...

The title track, "Quel che non dici" (What you don't say), starts by a delicate piano passage and deals with the difficulty to express your inner feelings and the effort to hide your troubles from the eyes of the world. The music and lyrics here conjure up the image of a thundering silence that rages like a hurricane under your skin, echoing in the void and slowly killing you...

The dark "Inquietudo" (Restlessness) alternates narrative, theatrical vocals and high pitched, obliques melodies while the music and the poetical lyrics depict a path closed in a circle and a vortex of words, a mysterious shape wandering in a labyrinth of inner troubles and the silent, desperate screams of a woman searching for peace...

The bittersweet "Ballata (di una vecchia puttana)" (Ballad of an old whore) draws the portray of a woman hardened by a difficult life who doesn't long for redemption but is tired to be judged by people and to get hurt by poisonous tongues and self-righteous looks...

"Piove" (It rains) starts with a nervous drum solo and blends frenzied passages and calmer, melancholic parts where the soaring, operatic vocals evoke a fall of painful memories and obscure desires...

The delicate, dreamy lieder "Dentro una goccia" (Inside a drop) closes the album describing a metaphorical journey inside a drop of dew falling down from the sky where you're just waiting for a miracle, searching for your lost time, beyond tears and regrets, until the earth swallows your ethereal body...

On the whole, a very good album, challenging and full of nuances, but beware! It needs more than a spin to be completely appreciated...