Italy is a country that, historically, has always had a profound relation with popular music. Through the decades, Italian music has been often exported worldwide very successfully and even translated and performed by international superstars like Sinatra, Dean Martin and many more.
Naturally, the traditional approach to writing and composing songs has moved on as the years went by, as one would expect, igniting a natural compositional and sonic evolution that has made possible that Italian musical artistry is still and largely worldwidely appreciated, to these days, not only into popular music but also in genres like Rock, Blues, Jazz, Classical and the list goes on and on.
One artist that has made of genres like Synth-Wave, Avant-Garde and Industrial Rock his starting platform to build complex and exciting new soundscapes, is the composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Paolo Tarsi, somebody that, especially through the release of his brand new and solo third album called Unnatural Self, has definitely stepped into the eliterian circle of the most sophisticated and forward-thinking Italian artists of the current generation.
Entirely composed by Tarsi himself, Unnatural Self is, in its whole, a full immersion into the mind of an artist that loves to push himself and his music into diverse territories, using primarily the mechanical sounds of Tarsi's synthesisers and computers programming to generate songs that incorporate melody with emotional songwriting, maintaining in that way a fine balance between tradition and experimentation with excellent results.
Supported by a remarkable array of Special Guests of the highest class like Saxophonist John Anthony Helliwell (Supertramp, Pink Floyd), fellow Italian Synth Master and singer/songwriter Eugene, E-bow guitarist Livio Magnini (Bluvertigo), drummer Alessandro Gerbi (C.S.I., Litfiba, Diaframma) plus many more, the 8 songs part of Unnatural Self display enormous attention to arrangements and in the choice of the right vocalist for the right song, with the latter being an element that plays an important part in delivering Tarsi's lyrics via the best vocal "conduct" that can better reinforce the meaning of each of the album's songs.
There are some real gems, on Tarsi's Unnatural Self; from the Synth-Rock album opener Perfect Machine World to the more delicate, down-tempo tune containing Ambient and Synth-Pop sound tinges called I Human, or from the potent Industrial Techno/New Wave Wall Of Sound built around the vocals of singer Steve Hovington on the song called Unfinished People going to the excellently structured elements of slowed down Drum'N'Bass with layers of Electronica and Ambient on the album's title-track, Paolo Tarsi reverses his inspired songwriting and high compositional skills in each song with such impressive style and elegance, making his brand new album a highly palatable record to listen and to appreciate on so many levels.
Unnatural Self is the voice of an artist like Tarsi that loves to express his musical vision in a beautiful multi-faceted style, marrying skillfully elegant arrangements, sonic experimentation, melody and great lyricism. Undoubtedly, a remarkable effort for the talented Italian composer.
