Made strong by a compositional sensitivity centered on the electro-acoustic and the assemblage of sonorous material, by a passionate interest in sound, and by a meticulous process of musical construction, Nicola Ratti reaches a long postponed introduction after the excellent 10" ep "One day with my fishing umbrella" released in September of 2004.
In this "Prontuario per giovani foglie" ("Handbook for Young Leaves") Nicola melts together manipulations of field recordings, electric and acoustic guitar textures, and his voice, into an unusual and moving mixture that eludes any reference to the singer-songwriter tradition that sung italian usually leads to, but rather that evokes musicians capable of a more personal language such as Dean Roberts or Vincent Gallo.
The eleven pieces, fluidly woven together into four long moments, alternate between suggestive electro-acoustic entries and a more carnal punctuation from the acoustic guitar, in which the intimacy of the lyrics, totally supported by the delicate sound, creates distilled images, not hazy but precisely delineated, as if illuminated by a ray of sunlight.
As accompaniment we find Giuseppe Ielasi, as recording engineer and as musician (guitar and electronics) in two pieces as well as Jacopo Andreini on sax in one piece.
A precious recording, fresh like the title that it bears, to listen to in one breath.