Chiodi Blu – Chiodi

Two chords on a guitar strummed with a quick slap back delay gives an exotic, almost mechanical samba swing rhythm from the start. The vocals are strange birds calling from high in the trees. The bass and drums throb, perfectly minimalist, building the turnaround and setting the hook. The vocals wade into a pond with shoulders thrusting forward and back, stepping carefully but deliberately, with a staccato and half narrated but dancing delivery. A few high notes drenched in a very natural sounding reverb startle the birds which scatter off with a fierce flapping of wings. The vocals return to a lilting melody, a sheer black cloth twisting free in the breeze, then draped gently over the guitars.

A little over three minutes in, the song slows down, the tempo comes to a slow crawl and dwindles to a pause. The momentary silence is punctuated by a single guitar with a quick echo, striking the three chords we heard juxtaposed over the song earlier. It makes the previous occurrence feel like deliberate foreshadowing and sets up the rhythm for the drums which now return with a more insistent and driving beat. The song takes a new turn, almost gets poppy for a moment but casts that aside indifferently. Some of the same melodic parts are reused in a clever way, the guitars reworking the rhythm into a more straight-ahead rock sensibility. The vocals alternate gracefully between chirping and chanting, while the guitars begin whipping up a maelstrom of swirling delay which sucks the drums and bass into the whirlpool, sending the whole song swirling into the gaping mouth of the Kraken.

This song is layered with well-executed nuance and reservation, it holds back just enough to build and relish in the suspense, never laying it on so thick that it would seem contrived. In fact, the whole thing sounds incredibly natural and well understood by its players. There is scarcely a note which could be removed, nothing extraneous. Well executed and subtle hooks that sneak up on you in plain sight. A great psychedelic and burnt offering from Italian group Chiodu Blu (“Blue Nails.”)

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