Not all albums play but breathe, and the 21grammi by Giuseppe Cuce sounds like it has been breathing, as the experience compressed and condensed into sound. Something made by Cuce of Catania sits in that indefinite, unstable place between confession and art, and it investigates the invisible burdens we all have to bear through loss and memory and the silent labour of becoming ourselves once again.
There is an amazing fluidity in the way his voice travels through the album, between a high, vulnerable, whispered delicacy to a low, resonant force. It turns into an instruction, showing you the way through the bluntly intimate and instantly recognisable moments as though he is speaking the words that you somehow were not aware of having in your mind. Cucé’s composition of soundscapes alongside producer Riccardo Samperi TRP Studios Cuce has created soundscapes, which combine the sensibility of Italian musical tradition with the indie-pop textures of the contemporary era, all covered in analogue tones that are incredibly human, almost tangible.
The instrumentation is rich with no sense of clutter. Hammond organs, strings, horns, and piano mix with minor electronic touches and provide areas to move between the cosy and the movie-wide. Songs such as Ventuno are slow paced and beat to a tension between delicacy and strength. Una notte infinita takes everything down to piano and gentle vocals, and it is so silent that it almost feels as a dark secret. E tutto cosi vero is alive, and exaltates the unperfect beauty of life in a danceable infectious joy.
The difference is that 21grammi is philosophical. Acting on the inspiration of Franco Battiato to Bon Iver, Cuce puts all the emotional burnout and the isolation of the digital era into something unrefined, heartfelt and very human. It is music that embraces silence and imperfection as elements of its narration. It is the most touching poetic realism, most intimate and yet somehow general, a song to the heart of man in all its weak and strong greatness.
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