Madrugada
My review
Madrugada - Chimes at Midnight
On every face there is a comet that ends its journey in the centre of our heart, from where it slowly turns into a seed that will later become a flower, which will make our life a beautiful sight.
In all this, there are Nordic fires that come into contact with the comet to speed up the blossoming: they are called Madrugada, angels of sound that whisper the richness of our good fortune when we listen to them.
They made us wait 14 years before returning to seduce and charm us without restraint, with a slightly different line-up but still able to eliminate the ugliness and transform pain into an embrace with the scent of joy.
And the atmospheres are a majestic bow, a taking of our hand of need to fill it with gems and sighs, with the Norwegian band strolling through the 60s on a feast of subtle, vibrant melodies.
Flown to Los Angeles to Sunset Sound Studio, legendary Producer Kevin Ratterman perfected songs that I imagine also came as a surprise to him, perhaps fearful of undermining this energy that found sweet ways to present itself. The three survivors of the band (Sivert Høyem, Frode Jacobsen,Jon Lauvland Pettersen) decided to include Kato Thomassen and Krister Knutsen, who were already part of Sivert's solo project.
The amalgamation proved to be quick and effective, and the songs were born keeping the Madrugada style intact, but adding new possibilities.
And so we find ourselves more dreamy, perfectly enclosed by their sonic embrace, which comforts and suggests unknown forces.
And because we need beautiful things we become deliberately enchanted, we abandon ourselves on the banks of these northern rivers, in this wind full of smiles, to sink totally into emotions that make us feel alive.
And Sivert's voice?
There's no question about it: it was born to confuse our senses and now, with these new songs, it has definitively made us wait for its power, its timbres that stick like glue to our ravenous need to keep it inside deep listening.
And he kisses us with his warmth, with the register of his voice which, passing from low to high tones, puts our hearts and minds in touch.
The music seems to have the blessing of the sun and the night, happily visiting the globe, making us feel the songs like suitcases and eyes full of adventure.
A resounding return, a flash that will become the constant of this 2022: if it is not the album of the year, it will only be because some miracle will have to happen...
Song by song
Nobody Loves You Like I Do
It all starts with a bass and drums that bring us back to Madrugada and Bad Seeds, but when Sivert's vocals come in we are closer to Davey Ray Moor and his Cousteau. The song has an atmosphere that the Norwegian band has already managed to personalise and make unique in the past. A bridge that enchants and then changes slightly in the refrain, in which Sivert's high register captivates us.
Running From The Love Of Your Life
Kato Thomassen's guitar roars like it used to do on Sivert's solo albums, drawing heavily from the style of the never forgotten Robert Burås, who died in July 2007. The song offers us colours and lights that enlighten our smiles: this ballad has what it takes to make us addicted.
Help Yourself To Me
A piano that seems to be played by Nick Cave's fingers gives us all the qualities of a simple music where the subtle keyboards stand out and the voice calls for help, doing it with class and elegance.
Stabat Mater
It is a jolt that shakes us, squeezes us like lemons waiting to drip on the floor. It is the France of the chansonniers that pulses within this marvellous atmosphere.
Everything is suspended: it seems that the sky becomes a mass of clouds without a beat, pervaded by a slowly moving sadness.
Slowly Turns The Wheel
The maturity of the five finds its centre of gravity in this track: these minutes are the perfect synthesis of the old Madrugada and the new ones, where everything seems to be inclined to become enlightening and powerful pop.
They know how to make the breath stop with keyboards that seem inclined to drama, pressed by vocals that take it by the hand and everything flies into our tender palpitations, wet with wonderful tears.
Imagination
Few bands like Madrugada can capture the sacredness of Leonard Cohen's last albums. Imagination is an example of this, sounding like a flock hungry for distance and the desire to bring glances into our intimacy. An arrangement that recalls the delicacy of Michael Nyman. All sewn on the skin: the eternal has found a place to rest.
Dreams at midnight
Once upon a time there was What's On Your Mind.
Now, next to it, it comes the album's title track. Keyboards and guitar make us soggy but happy children, when tears stretch the future. And the semi-acoustic guitar makes love to the electric one to remind us well how unbeatable Madrugada are in songs like these. The guitar solo, without exaggeration, gets into the meaning of the lyrics and makes them perfect. And the refrain? Emphatic and soft at the same time. Endless applause.
Call My Name
With little breath left, we are apparently benefited by this pastel-coloured atmosphere. But then the blow of the sabre comes: the five guys don't need to raise their voices or the rhythm because it is in the interrupted atmospheres, resumed and then changed, that our amazement can live and grow.
Empire Blues
Madrugada's blues can sometimes be a perfect cross between American and English blues: we already know that very well. But here there is something new that is not immediately understandable. It arrives after each time of listening and conquers us. So we hear the guitars of the typical Delta area, and we are at the beginning of the 30s of the last century, talking all the time with the English blues of the 60s. All of which leads us to see the music in this track as a timeless woman wearing an enchanting dress.
You Promised To Wait For Me
On a carriage that flies over our heads, the song leaves to take us for a ride with it, crossing genres that are held tightly in a conspiratorial embrace and capable of making us understand that we are inhabited by a small star, which with this arrangement will illuminate our listening to make us repeat it...
The World Could Be Falling Down
A cat. The song sounds like a cat that wants to laze around and invite us to enjoy its mantle where we find sweetness, poetry and warmth ready to be listened to. When Sivert sings everything becomes a feather that falls slowly on this grey and blue cat...
Ecstasy
A desire to throw yourself under Sivert's voice that is the sweetest and coziest blanket in the world.
Second by second the instruments come together to release the song in a lullaby that at times seems to become heartbreaking.
And it is a lullaby that does not lead us to be victims of hallucinations, but rather aware of the beauty of this incredible track. Yes, because in the song that concludes this work there is all the intensity of a band in an amazing state of form.
They are tears that melt inside the belly of a perfect album...
Alex Dematteis
Musicshockworld
Salford
29th January 2022
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