Italian singer
Neffa (or Giovanni Pellino) has been nothing if not willing to explore different genres. For a while he was the drummer in a hardcore band, then he moved to MC in a hip-hop group, and then switched to pop singer, where he's stayed for three albums, the latest of which,
Alla Fine Della Notte, came out in Italy in 2006. Luckily for him, pop music is also nothing if not versatile and rather expansive, giving
Neffa plenty of room to move around within it. On 2004's I Molteplici Mondi... he took mostly funk and lounge influences and turned out charming, breezy songs that captured the lightness and fun of a warm summer's night; it all worked very well, and it pushed him onto radios across the country. But because
Neffa's always been one to change, to look for new opportunities, for his next album he made an attempt to develop his sound even more. This isn't to say that there aren't a lot of repeats between the two discs: songs like "Senza Ali," "Che Sarà Sarà," and "Vieni Appena Puoi" could have easily come off I Molteplici Mondi..., and
Neffa knows this too, trying to make up for it by adding an assortment of other sounds on other tracks to compensate for it, to not make the same record twice. This, of course, is a bit of a risk, and in the case of "Tanta Luce" and "Tutto Tu," it ends up being a bad decision. The former is an attempt at blues but is so flat and stilted, without even a trace, of syncopation, that it's nearly impossible to listen to, while the latter is a garage rock-cum-studio-production that sounds a bit forced, especially his repetition of "Tutto tutto tutto tutto tutto tutto tutto tutto tu." Because these two songs bookend the record, the overall impression of it is a little unfair; but given his experimentation,
Neffa also comes out with some stuff that's pretty good, that works with his approach and capabilities. "Blu" and "Luna Nuova" are both
Beatles-inspired shoegaze rock songs, and complement
Neffa's thin voice (that even double-tracking can't hide in the soul-based pieces) and often-monotonous melodies, making a strong argument that this should be the new direction he heads in, instead of the blues, where he falls miserably short. Because
Neffa has a lot of ideas, and talent, too, he just needs to reign it all in and focus more on what really works for him. He's done it in the past; there's no reason he can't do it all, again. ~ Marisa Brown