Paola & Chiara
Festival (Sony Music, Italy)
by Michael McCarthy
Festival is the fourth album by Italy’s Paola & Chiara (Sony Music, Italy) and it’s a fantastic celebration of life, love, and various genres of music you probably wouldn’t expect to find on the same album. At first listen, it does seem a lot like their previous album, Television, but as you listen more and more, you begin to realize just how much more diverse it is. The first two singles, “Festival” and “Hey!,” are dance club gems every bit as irresistible as Television‘s international smash “Vamos A Bailar.” However, these sisters have never been the sort of artists to write the same song twice, and they literally traveled the world as they wrote this album with variety in mind.
They explain the process of writing the album at their website, www.paolaechiara.it, “Before giving a definite shape to the songs included in Festival, we did an in-depth analysis on the various lifestyles of the countries we visited: Climate, food traditions, urbanistics, people’s motivation. This was a very interesting experience. In Brazil and Argentina we visited many cathedrals and other religious sites; the soft light of those places is a very touching element and has influenced our musical language. We liked the idea that our songs had their own light, the light that can be perceived only when it’s dark.”
That would sound overly self-indulgent if only they hadn’t done such a splendid job of incorporating these influences into their songs. Their cover of the Spanish classic “Bella Maria De Mi Alma” (“Beautiful Maria Of My Soul”), for example, sounds as authentic as any rendition by any Latin artist I’ve ever heard. Likewise, the music of “Kamasutra” sounds like contemporary Indian music, even though it’s an original composition in Italian. Meanwhile, the album’s sole English-language track is a haunting, tear-inducing acoustic ballad entitled “Comin’ Around.” And fans of classic Italian ballads from the ’60s will surely appreciate “Un Giorno di sole per me” and “Arrivederci, addio.” A mixed bag, yes, but a bag full of keepers.
