“Lazarus Get Up and Walk!”, Fabio Ilacqua’s invective

“Passo _01” is the new recording project and debut work by Fabio Ilacqua, an album composed of 9 tracks that will be released on October 11th for BMG. In addition to digital, the album will also be released in two different formats: CD and limited edition colored and numbered vinyl.

The single that precedes the release of “Passo _01” is “L’uomo bidimensionale”. A song that sends a strong message to our society with the intent of shaking us out of the torpor and habituation given by the drift that our daily life has now taken (“Easy to become a two-dimensional man/raised by the head actor/enchanted by a scenic effect/the dream and the passion and the sign of extreme unction/the lullabies have changed we fall asleep to the sound of gunshots”). A song that, as reported in the press release, is inspired by the reflections of Pier Paolo Pasolini, who already over 50 years ago, denounced a system of educational power capable of subjugating every layer of society, from the ruling classes to the poorest, standardizing their desires and behaviors.

As stated by Ilacqua, the figure of Lazarus was chosen emblematically to invite us to emerge from the torpor into which we have fallen: “In the song, the biblical figure of Lazarus becomes a symbol of awakening and awareness, of revolt against this oppressive system, an invitation to dissent and to fight for freedom”. Making open reference to a terminology that was commonplace at the time of Pasolini, such as ‘square and workshop’, (“Lazarus Get Up and Walk! Lazarus take back the square and the workshop!/The anger and the offensive, the rose and the thorn/But you have closed your doors, you have closed your doors: you have died twice…”)

Of course the message undoubtedly has (and it is a virtue) a certain depth, but listening to “L’uomo bidimensionale” is anything but boring. The invective of the musician from Varese is far from the classic singer-songwriter as one might think based on the references reported in the lines above to Pasolini and the Seventies. Musically it is robust, powerful, punctuated by changes in rhythm and reinforced by wind instruments that enter punctually to support Fabio’s voice.

Fabio Ilacqua, who is now approaching 50 years of age, has collaborated in his career with Francesco Guccini, Ornella Vanoni, Massimo Ranieri, Francesco Gabbani (his songs were the winners of the Sanremo Festival, “Amen” and “Occidentali’s karma”), Marco Mengoni, Loredana Berté, Mina, Adriano Celentano, Davide Van De Sfroos, Simona Molinari, Drusilla Foer.

Tracklist:

1_WINE AND SNAKES

2_THE HIPS

3_A DOG DAY

4_THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL MAN

5_THE PART

6_ONE LESS LOVE

7_BLACK BUTTERFLY

8_A GOOD DYING

9_A ROAD WORKER’S DREAM