Seven years after “Awakening”, Elektra Nicotra is back with her second album: during this period of time, the singer-songwriter from Catania has decided to change her writing process, replacing the English lyrics with the dialect of her native land. A clear change of perspective, which repositions her towards more markedly “folk” territories, abandoning for the moment that songwriting electro-acoustic with indie-pop hues (just tinged with electronics) that had characterized his early days. “Menzanotti”, midnight: a moment of rebirth, the watershed between one day and the next, the portion of the day during which one slips into the world of dreams. It is an intimate, introspective work, sung in Sicilian dialect and published right at the stroke of midnight on June 21, the first day of summer. A concept in nine tracks, each inspired by a dream Elektra had, a dreamlike journey through the musician's deepest emotions.
The success of musical projects like that of Nu Genea has also reinvigorated in Italy the desire to recall and update regional traditions, a choice that is paying off abroad, often transforming small groups into names of reference well beyond national borders (among the most recent cases, at least that of Lankum with Irish folk should be mentioned) if not even into global megastars (the overwhelming success of Rosalia, who started out as the heroine of the process of flamenco's acceptance by the new generations).
Even in the case of Nicotra, traditional instruments and contemporary sounds blend together naturally, allowing psych-rock instincts and world impulses to flow into the same container. The use of the Sicilian dialect allows her to best express her vocality, blending easily with multiple influences, especially Middle Eastern melodies, evident both in “A navi ri petra” and in “Specchiu”, in which a hypothesis of an Arab path towards reggaeton is drawn.
But English does not disappear completely: the fundamental aspect of the project remains the search for the best sound to use. In the more rhythmic songs (for example, “Salih”) Elektra vaguely recalls an Angelina Mango determined to maintain a close bond with her roots, avoiding the search for compromise with the market and with the sirens of the mainstream.
Produced by Giovanni Maggiore, who has already collaborated with Eugenio Finardi, Levante and Loredana Bertè; in “Lentu” the percussions played by Tonj Acquaviva of Agricantus appear; the graphic image chosen for the album cover is a digital collage created by Elektra herself and represents one of the dreams told in the album, to be precise the one sung in the song “A navi ri petra”. In addition to being a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter (both the music and lyrics are her own work), Elektra also works in fashion, journalism, graphics and visual art.
07/31/2024
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
