Giammarco De Massimi is not a new name on the pages of Onda Rock, we met him eleven years ago, an eternity: at the time he was the voice and guitar of the Juro project, a successful synthesis of Pixies + Cure capable of integrating into the also stylistic is the contemporaneity (it was 2013) dictated by Arcade Fire. GIURO, the new company name in which Giammarco remains the indispensable creative fulcrum, does not represent the evolution of that idea, no, GIURO is a real second departure, which moves from completely different assumptions, moving towards new coordinates. To achieve this objective, De Massimi surrounded himself with new collaborators and abandoned the use of the English language to move on to writing in Italian, in the awareness of having topics to address, thus underlining his intention to be well understood by everyone.
GIURO's axis moves around a form of evolved indie-pop, which integrates it-pop and Sixties/Seventies atmospheres to build a form of songwriting able to break away from habits. In “Tra tra noi” the band immerses their fellow citizen Calcutta in a liquid dream-pop, for “Roma (non mi askrai più)” it looks towards rock shores through a more aggressive use of guitars, in “Scintillanti” it instead settles on a confidential mood. But GIURO's main intuition lies in the apt choice to enrich the compositions (this happens in particular in the four tracks that occupy the second part of the album) with really interesting instrumental codas, which draw from the psych-rock imagery.
There is a lot of melancholy in “Istinto”, and the intention to tell flashes of ordinary everyday life without ever giving in to banalities, with an innate attention to the melodic aspects. The strokes of genius are numerous, as when in the majestic “Occhi” the quintet raises the bar by proposing an atmosphere (and a bass line) that recalls the most recent Arctic Monkeys, those of “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” and ” The Car”, an indie of great refinement, or like when in the final “Ministro” the instrumental codas become two, the second of which closes the games in an acoustic key. Giammarco's singing has become more mature, the band supports him impeccably: Lorenzo Chierici on guitars, Simone Mitjans on synths, Mario Giulianelli on bass, Pierpaolo Bellomo on drums. A very good restart, just when we no longer hoped…
10/05/2024
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM