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Sol Seppy è lo pseudonimo di Sophie Michalitisanos, violoncellista professionista nonché polistrumentista e già collaboratrice di Sparklehorse.
Dopo aver partecipato ad un tour in cui ha fatto da supporter ai Radiohead, ha finalmente ottenuto un contratto con l’etichetta Gronland e ha pubblicato quest’anno, sotto la protezione del suo mentore Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse, appunto) l’esordio “The Bells Of 1 2”. Ciò che colpisce del personaggio, oltre alla sua indubbia avvenenza, è l’abilità d’arrangiatrice: ogni brano è travolto da una quantità notevole di suoni d’ogni tipo, da quelli più acustici e “veri”, a quelli più artificiali, puri effetti di studio.
In questo senso Sophie è una creatura sorprendente: nasce come cantautrice nel senso più tradizionale del termine, ma è molto difficile trovare nel disco un brano che assomigli ad una ballata spartana incentrata sulla voce e uno strumento. La voce (bellissima, calda e sensuale) sembra sempre filtrata, edulcorata, senza che per questo manchi di intensità, gli arrangiamenti trasformano scheletri di canzoni in allucinazioni, febbrili e stralunate. Il risultato fa spesso pensare ad un incrocio tra i Portishead e i Mazzy Star. L’iniziale “1 2” stabilisce le coordinate del lavoro: intrecci dolcissimi di tastiere (quasi una versione più terrena dei Mum), un radioso ritornello, in cui la voce si perde in un labirinto di vocalizzi sognanti, per tornare (in maniera perfettamente simmetrica) al giro di tastiere che l’aveva portata alla luce.
Il suo romanticismo decadente è in primo piano in ballate pianistiche meste e malinconiche come “Human” o la sconsolata “Injoy”, sussurrata con un filo di voce ad un amore lontano. A volte i trucchi sono un po’ troppo evidenti: “Move” e “A To N” sono in pratica una ballata trip hop (la prima) e una serenata classicheggiante (la seconda), la cui unica peculiarità è quella di essere formalmente prive di strutture: tuttavia, la perfezione degli arrangiamenti e lo straziante pathos del canto (specie nella prima) salvano questi (poco riusciti) tentativi di innovazione. In “Gold” la voce si fa strada timidissima e spettrale tra i rintocchi del pianoforte, finché le fa eco il breve lamento del violoncello. “Come running” fa pensare a una versione pop di Cat Power (anche se il bridge acustico sfiora il plagio di “ Metal Heart” ). Lo stile è meno a fuoco in un brano come “Love’s boy”, pericolosamente a metà strada tra un pop zoppicante e la musica da camera (per l’arrangiamento d’archi), eppure straordinariamente ammaliante; si muove invece in territori decisamente più sicuri nella tetra “Farewell your heart”, che di fatto ha la forma di una regolarissima ballata per chitarra a voce, ma è turbata da un’ atmosfera noir e scostante, ingentilita dalle note più acute del pianoforte.
Un giro di piano classicheggiante introduce “Slow Fuzz”, che presto si trasforma in un rock fumoso e notturno in crescendo, sei minuti da brividi. “Wonderland” è una ballata vagamente alla Tori Amos, in cui il canto, all’inizio sottotono, si lascia lentamente andare ad un altro, lirico crescendo. La conclusiva “Enter One” è un’ambiziosa sonata pianistica di sei minuti, che però ripete, amplificandole, le intuizioni già proposte nel resto del disco.
Una leggera (e perdonabile) monotonia non impedisce a “The Bells of 1 2” di essere un disco decisamente riuscito: il brillante incrocio tra un tenero romanticismo e una componente più scopertamente onirica ne fa un esordio di altissima classe.
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 Human (04:28)
Hello, my name is human
And I come from love
Here on earth it's easy
To forget our home
We all remember
From time to time
Bring forth the beauty of your heart
This undying love is who you are
Don't look down
To reasons on the ground
Love will lift you home
To unbelief
We all remember
From time to time
Bring forth the beauty of your heart
This undying love is who you are
Don't look down
You are not alone
Love will lift you home
Love will make us home
Love will lift you out
Love will make us home
03 Come Running (03:27)
Come Running words
you call my name , come running
come running in my friend. if i was ever in need, i would be calling your name.
and if it's a sunny day tomorrow
we can relax by the sand, and i won't fall away from your shadow
AND ITS TIME TO UNVEIL THOSE BEAUTIFUL EYES THERE'S A WHOLE
LOT MORE THAN YOU REALISE - THERE'S A SHIFT GOING ON
THAT YOU FEEL INSIDE
AND IT'S TIME TO
OPEN YOU INTO THE LIGHT
CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE YOU ARE
IT BURNS INSIDE SO BRIGHT, CAN YOU SEE THE LOVE YOU ARE.
and if you want your name , it's coming. it's simply
Love, my friend, that let's you in
so come running and i will be calling your name.
and if it's a sunny day tomorrow, we can bring all the friends
around
and maybe we might go running through seas and skies about.
AND ITS TIME TO UNVEIL THOSE BEAUTIFUL EYES, THERE'S
A WHOLE LOT MORE THAN
YOU REALISE
THERE'S A SHIFT GOING ON THAT YOU FEEL INSIDE
AND IT'S TIME TO OPEN YOU
INTO THE LIGHT
CAN YOU SEE THE LOVE YOU ARE ?
IT BURNS INSIDE SO BRIGHT
CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE YOU ARE?
and you're looking on up to your home in the stars
remembering
what it's like
to be safe and warm in your daddy's arms.
and now it's you
who can enfold your wings round a broken one,
and it's you who needs your love
more than anyone
04 Move (03:25)
Are you waiting for somebody else to move
Don't you know in your heart is the power to change everything
Don't you know in your heart is the power to change everything
Time to return in a circle
Bout' to miss anything
Come to me sometime
I've been waiting for a long, long time
Give me some of your shine, shine
Maybe for all mine
I need you now tonight
I need you now tonight
Oh tonight
Are you waiting for somebody else to move
Don't you know in your heart is the power change everything
Don't you know in your heart is the power to change everything
Oh now it is time to move in unity
Time to return in a circle
'Bout to miss anything
Up in the fungi
Until you girrate
In the fresh air
Like an air balloon
Only with you
I just wanna be there with you
I just wanna be there with you
I just wanna be there with you, Kay
06 Injoy (04:30)
I've been around a long time
In search of home and heart
On cartoons and in aeroplanes
In paper chains and stars
And I am come to you
And I am one for you
And let the guards be terrified
I am my soul's belief
And now, there's nothing left to hide
I am wild and I am free
And I am come to you
And I am one for you
I'm injoy as the morning spirals open
And the clouds melt away into water
And I am come to you
And I am one for you
07 Slo Fuzz (06:25)
I wish i could say the same of myself, that i'm in perfect harmony.
That i do not use the sword of my tongue to lash out at the enemy.
That i do not fear the light.
That i do not stray from Love as my guide.
That i'm at peace inside.
And all the pieces are fine - they dance and sing in unity.
A dum dum dum dee daa da deee.
I wish I could fly through the sky and the moon above me.
I wish I could talk to the Gods and the birds above me.
It's not fun to be so blind.
To be so blind.
I wish i could stay in the present day not lapsing into vicious sleep.
Cause it gives my bones a brand shiny new home - one that does not confine me.
And i do not fear the Light.
And i do not stray from Love as my guide.
And i'm at peace inside.
And all the pieces are fine. They dance and sing in unity.
A dum dum dum dee daaa da deeeee.
I wish I could fly through the sky and the moon above me.
I wish I could talk to the Gods and the birds above me.
It's not fun to be so blind.
To be so blind.
Slo fuzz in the morning,
where i can tempt you to be my air...
But it's not enough to be lovely when i feel other things i can not share.
That i can't.
11 Wonderland (03:33)
I found this picture the other day
It was so amazing I hung it up
My friends said "That's by the girl next door
She doesn't think she's very good at all."
And then one day Sarah came around
"Please would you take that thing down?"
She blacked it out and then she ripped it up
And hid herself in a paper bag
Roses are red and the dinner is done
You seem to be happy and so in love
She had disappeared long ago
Waiting for Arthur to come through her window
Here I am, my love
But nobody came and the mist fell down
Her friends transformed into cane toads
Sitting in a room knowing all's a gas
And Arthur was replaced by a spacecraft
You want the kiss of life
Open up your heart
Then step inside
And you'll be alright
You want the kiss of life
Open up your heart
And step inside
And you'll be alright
But she can sing like my shore
It calls her name it's pure and true
And she runs toward this unbelievable love
A love she's dreaming of
My child I am you
I am
12 Enter One (06:15)
After a storm
I want to be brave
And keep you warm
And not fade away
As we float from the shore
Into the light
Into the unknown
Like thousands of lanterns
Glowing with grace
In glorious silence
Descending through space
To a friend
A sister in need
Who is not alone
And they are surrounding her
And they will enfold her outstretched hand
In our love
Into the light
It's hard to believe
It's always been ours to give
And to receive
I want to be shameless like the sun
Moving into you
Entering light
Welcome
Inch'Allah, Inch'Allah
Enter one amazing grace is pouring down
Fear not this light
We are of this light divine
So come
We move as one
Amazing grace is pouring down
Fear not this light
We are on this light divine
Welcome
Enter one
After a storm
I wanna let go
Of the things that I’ve done
Without any worry
I wanna come home
Into the light
Into the unknown
I want to be shameless
Like the sun
Moving into you
Enter light
Welcome
Inch'Allah, Inch'Allah
Enter one
Amazing grace is pouring down
Fear not this light
We are on this light divine
So come
We move as one
Amazing grace is pouring down
Fear not this light
We are on this light divine
Welcome
Enter one
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