Even though the title of singer/songwriter
Gianmaria Testa's debut record,
Montgolfières, is in French, it is a very much an Italian album. Like much of
Fabrizio De André's work, the songs on
Montgolfières tell stories, stories of love and life, in simple yet descriptive language.
Testa does borrow from the half-sung/half-spoken vocal style of
Paolo Conte, but he also finds much of himself in the folk, classical, and jazz influences he explores and the woodwind, accordion, and brass he adds to fill out his sound. He creates something that, while it seems very familiar and comforting, is also quite unique and interesting. "Città Lunga" describes a place that seemed alive to him when it was inhabited by a woman he loved ("Quanto era bella la città/Piena dei tuoi colori...e com'è lunga la città senza di te," which translated means "How beautiful the city was/Full of your colors...and how long the city is without you"). The words are reflective and sad, and yet the music is jazzy with saxophone solos and clarinets, an interesting incongruity that appears frequently in all of
Montgolfières. "Automobile," for example, is a faster song, driven by an upright bass, drums, and bright horn breaks, and even though
Testa's voice takes on a seductive quality, his lyrics show the thoughts of a man who's trying to come to terms with the fact that his lover isn't returning to him.
Testa also often acts as an observer, commenting on what he sees around him (even if he is personally involved in the situation), like in "La Donna del Bar," where he seems more confused than anything else as he forlornly sings "La musica, il bicchiere, le altre sere/Ti avrebbero legato qui" ("The music, the glass, the other evenings/They should have bound you here"). Perhaps because of this, there is an innocence and a sincerity to
Testa's work, something very human about it all, and it's easy to see him how he is, as the local stationmaster just taking some time between the arrivals and departures of the trains to sing to his passengers. It's music about Italy, but it's also honest, thoughtful music about the shared human experience. And that's the kind of thing that can be understood in any language.