Le Iene Immaginazione

Review – Le Iene: Immaginazione

First full-length album for the Ferrara band Le Iene

 

After an EP and a couple of singles, Le Iene from Ferrara come back with their first full-length album, entitled “Immaginazione“, released in May via Kob Records.

Before going into the actual album I’d like to say a few words about the artwork. On the cover we find a very “psychedelic” drawing: a child wanders in a fluorescent coloured scenario where a barbed wire turns into a musical staff, slurry into an icicle, a prohibition sign into a lollipop, under the amused eyes of a pack of hyenas (the hyena shaped puppet in the child’s hand is delicious). Inside the booklet, the lyrics of the songs are interspersed with drawings made by pupils of a school. In addition to the purely aesthetic, original and pleasant aspect, the artwork introduces us to the meaning of this album, very compact both from the musical point of view and from that of the lyrics. The 12 tracks, in fact, are joined by a logical thread that makes them part of an overall discourse.

Musically, there’s everything you can expect from a good ska-punk album: captivating melodies, fast rhythms, well highlighted horns, ironic voice, double voices in choruses.

But let’s get to the point of the album, keeping the cover in mind. The lyrics paint a lucid and ironic portrait of the current world: technological alienation (“Un nuovo traguardo“), destruction of Nature (“Una chiamata persa“), the drama of migrants (“Eroi“). The recipe that Le Iene seem to suggest for resisting the debacle is in the song “Immaginazione“, which gives the title to the album: recovering the lost world of childhood to look at reality with the eyes and imagination of a child. Is it really possible to change the world for the better with this recipe? Maybe. The important thing is not to be indifferent to what happens around us (and therefore accomplices) and try to see and add positivity and confidence. Reality is however constantly evolving and, as the song that closes the album says (among the best in my opinion, a nice adrenaline rush), to any change sooner or later “You’ll get used” (“Ci si abituerà”).

Reviewed by Elvira Cuomo

Tracklist

  1. Intro
  2. Un nuovo traguardo
  3. Spiega le tue vele
  4. Una chiamata persa
  5. Immaginazione
  6. FCGD
  7. Popoli e zanzare
  8. Nella mia città
  9. Eroi
  10. Cervellino
  11. Non per noi
  12. Ci si abituerà