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Roberta Gulisano has long grappled with the roots of her land, Sicily, in an eternal relationship of love for her origins and combative anger over how they are and have been mistreated. Her new album, produced by Cesare Basile, is an explicit and deliberate homage to her roots. Musically, it embraces tradition with ancient instruments and the spirit of Rosa Balistreri surfacing frequently, but there’s also plenty of experimentation, highlighting that we are dealing with a living, vibrant material that renews itself with freshness and strength. It demonstrates how old stories remain relevant and how important it still is to tell them, in the local language, emphasizing the role of daily life experiences. An intense album, raw yet elegant and refined at the same time. —Radiocoop
Roberta Gulisano’s Sicily is a restlessness of the soul. It is an emotional force constantly against the wind, bearing roots and scars on skin burned by a domineering sun. In her lyrics, there is a powerful poetry, a Sciascian sentiment that smells of scorched earth. Every note, every nuance is a pinprick on the skin, a sweet lullaby, yet also a cry of liberation, a child’s smile, the strength that evokes a memory. Everything in this musical journey is authentic. Every melodic breath, every harmony is a step on a path built from a life of struggles. —Atom Heart Magazine
But what really marks the LP out is her willingness to take those traditions and influences and give them a twist or ten, and the LP gets increasingly twisted as it progresses. Starting off with the subtlest of electronic augmentation, it's not long before spoken and instrumental samples are less subtly dropped, looped or layered. Arrangements become looser and even borderline unhinged. The electronic twists become more pronounced, the songs nod to native, Baltic Mestizo, Arabesque and even the Scottish highlands courtesy of some bagpipes. A jew's harp is flown in from Siberia, seagulls fly through the studio, drones refuse to die and found sounds are everywhere, with the songs ranging from desert laments, folktronic ballads, wedding jigs and psychedelic folk futurism. —Slow Music Movement
Roberta Gulisano’s Sicily is a restlessness of the soul. It is an emotional force constantly against the wind, bearing roots and scars on skin burned by a domineering sun. In her lyrics, there is a powerful poetry, a Sciascian sentiment that smells of scorched earth. Every note, every nuance is a pinprick on the skin, a sweet lullaby, yet also a cry of liberation, a child’s smile, the strength that evokes a memory. Everything in this musical journey is authentic. Every melodic breath, every harmony is a step on a path built from a life of struggles. —Atom Heart Magazine
But what really marks the LP out is her willingness to take those traditions and influences and give them a twist or ten, and the LP gets increasingly twisted as it progresses. Starting off with the subtlest of electronic augmentation, it's not long before spoken and instrumental samples are less subtly dropped, looped or layered. Arrangements become looser and even borderline unhinged. The electronic twists become more pronounced, the songs nod to native, Baltic Mestizo, Arabesque and even the Scottish highlands courtesy of some bagpipes. A jew's harp is flown in from Siberia, seagulls fly through the studio, drones refuse to die and found sounds are everywhere, with the songs ranging from desert laments, folktronic ballads, wedding jigs and psychedelic folk futurism. —Slow Music Movement
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