Carmen Consoli surprises while remaining similar to herself
The seventh album by Carmen Consoli it’s called “Electra” and was published by the musician from Catania on 30 October 2009, fifteen years ago. He introduced the album by saying, “It’s an album about paternal love”, and explaining that the title cites the mythological figure who in psychoanalysis is the female counterpart of Oedipus, or the woman in love with her father. It is dedicated to the father “Send us a postcard”: “It’s about my father, I wrote it immediately after his passing, in 4 hours, it’s dedicated to him.” The following is our review of “Electra”.
It is one of the most consolidated stereotypes that claims that the best records, books and films are the result of the elaboration of pain, of mourning. Carmen Consoli has made no secret of how much her new album “Elettra” – the first in over three years since “Eva contro Eva” in 2006 – was strongly marked by the death of her father. The first words of the album are dedicated to him, those of “Mandaci una cartolina”, and the figure chosen for the title also refers to this: the Electra complex, in psychoanalysis, is the daughter’s falling in love with the father, a feminine mirror of the better known Oedipus complex.
But “Elettra” cannot be limited only to this, because the repertoire of stories that Carmen Consoli tells is much broader, and the paternal influence is perhaps more subtle: it concerns a world and a way of seeing things that are perhaps outdated but not therefore less fascinating, which ranges from the stories of “whores” in the town square seen from the window (“A window”) to stories of abuse (“My uncle”).
The music on this album is also out of date: “Elettra” is an album that follows the path of “Eva contro Eva”, with a predominantly acoustic sound, favoring the ballad form. The work on the sounds done by Carmen together with her band is truly remarkable and appreciable throughout the album. Maybe it’s a little sad that Carmen no longer frequents rock music – at least not on record, because in concert it’s a different story, as the tour for the tenth anniversary of “Mediamente hysterica” last year demonstrated. But Carmen would reply that electric guitars are here too, they’re just used differently. Ultimately, songs like “My uncle” have a decidedly rock feel, even if the bass and strings lead the dance.
“Elettra” is a high-quality album for an artist who over the years has been able to create her own highly recognizable style, both on a linguistic, sonic and interpretative level. Well, one of the best qualities of this album is precisely the way in which “the singer” manages to surprise while remaining similar to herself.
