Day: October 23, 2016

There is no doubt that every musical genre is more or less suitable to the moods and circumstances connected to the moment of listening: for a record by Ataraxia I imagine, as an ideal place, a hilly area or, even better, located on the heights of my Genoa where, with the Apennine spurs behind, you are lucky enough to enjoy, at a short distance, the view of the whole gulf. Unfortunately, such a combination is not always possible, so a work like Deep Blue Firmament is entrusted with the not easy task of making us imagine those same scenarios even sitting in a corner of our usual homes. After all, Ataraxia perform this magic for twenty-five years now, reiterating an average of once a year without ever showing signs of fatigue or declines in inspiration: call it neo folk or as we prefer, the truth is that this music goes beyond labels or space-time limits, and is essentially the purest representation of what is allowed to do man manipulating the seven notes. The wonderful voice of Francesca Nicoli is obviously the trait that identifies Ataraxia in their first appearance to our hearing, the ideal guide for a virtual journey through lost civilizations, ancestral sounds, spirituality and nature, all imbued with that load of melancholy that is inherent in sensitive souls, a club that seems to become more and more restricted, judging by the iniquities that, daily, our senses must increasingly suffer. From Delphi to Alexandria II it’s all a succession of emotions, a dance between lights and shadows, conducted through the use of different idioms, as a corollary of sounds so crystal clear to make you fear that something could break them at any moment. I won’t dwell in the canonical x-ray passage of the various tracks, a bit for atavistic inability, but especially because there is really no need to do so when you are in the presence of music of such stature, nor will I allow myself to launch into unlikely comparisons that could be even offensive to those who give us their art for over a quarter of a century. I’ll just ask you in a heartfelt way to continue to support this band, if you already knew it, and to discover it definitely if not, unless you want to continue to ignore the excellence that, at least artistically, this country continues to produce despite the arrogance and ignorance rampant try to suffocate them: Ataraxia is one of these, undoubtedly among the brightest and most durable.

2016 – Sleaszy Rider Records