Giuseppe Cuce creates a world with 21grammi that is soft and deep, as touching a vulnerable bird and resting your heartbeat against its. The Catania-born songwriter takes the lyrical culture of Italian songwriting and incorporates it into the fabric of contemporary indie pop to produce an album that is almost like a family album: old friends smiling back, changed by time, love, and tragedy.
The album itself revolves around the mythical 21 grammes which supposedly weighs the soul, and the concept is used as a compass on thoughts of the process of remembrance, longing and the painful process of becoming a complete person again. The voice of Cuce passes between these themes with the patience of rain carving rock, and going from the tones of hushed tenderness to impromptu decisions of force, always founded on an unconscious sincerity.
It is essential to the touch of producer Riccardo Samperi. The bodily presence of the album is also provided by its analogue warmth that is seldom seen in the world today, as though every note is being pushed into the skin. Almost, you can sense the air in the room shaking, the silence between the sounds breathing with the music.
Compositions like Ventuno can be viewed as a representation of this spirit: the piece develops out of almost no sound into a vast discharge, as though tears were letting out. Una notte infinita turns inside itself, its piano and whispered vocals become a place where one can finally sleep. Elsewhere, E tutto cosi vero uplifts the mood, with a sunny and contagious beat to the chaos of life.
There is a filmic quality in subtle orchestral touches by Sicilian musicians, without taking away the emotional centre of the songs. Each moment of silence, breathing, and flaw is deliberate. 21grammi is moving because it is not acting feeling, but instead dwells within it, providing comfort in times when gravity seems to have the greatest burden.
