Creuza De Mä

Fabrizio De André is best known for his pioneering work as Italy’s premiere cantuatore, and much of his legend rests on a string of albums recorded across the sixties and seventies that build outward from his love of French singer-songwriters. But in many ways, De André’s eighties albums are his most quietly pioneering works. Crêuza De Mä (Muletrack by the Sea) is a case in point. Behind the seeming pacific calm of the period-piece production there are subtle cultural-political gestures, from signing in Ligurian (the language of the Genoa) to drawing from the local musics and instruments of the Mediterranean. Its use of field recordings and in-situ performances echoes other albums that cloak the avant-garde with sweetness; the lyrics, mostly about life in Genoa, benefit from the grace and gentleness of the melodies that PFM’s Mauro Pagani wrestled from De André’s memory. But it’s the latter’s voice that holds everything together – crumbling at the edges, but full of warmth and empathy for the characters and experiences he details in his writing, it’s De André’s finest performance on record.