Marta Del Grandi—Dream Life

I listened to this album and was immediately enchanted by Marta’s voice. That gentle Italian lilt is ever present, and I’ll admit that at first it struck me as something that might verge on gimmickry. No, that isn’t quite right, though. Her voice is honest, true, and quietly wonderful, but when it first hits you, you can’t help wondering whether it will be enough on its own, if that makes sense.

After playing the album multiple times over the past week, I can answer that question with an emphatic yes, and even that undersells it. Her voice at times floats effortlessly, at others it becomes almost hypnotic. I could keep piling on the adjectives, sexy, sensual, often deeply beguiling, but this is not an album that rests solely on its vocals. It is something richer and more expansive than that.

I love the opening moments of "You Could Perhaps", its simple synth melody setting the scene before Marta’s voice enters. The combination irresistibly draws you in, following blindly, driven purely by sound, siren like but with no rocks to crash upon, only music to be enveloped by. It has the feel of a modern day nursery rhyme, yet one infused with a dark beauty. The musical accompaniment and harmonies, at times, deepen that darkness, or perhaps more accurately, lend it a subtly unsettling edge.

The title track, "Dream Life" turns things a little, after a somewhat almost sombre drum intro. It feels both light and relaxed, but the music refuses to let it go completely in that direction, that is until the chorus hits and there's a wonderful, but brief effervescent brightness to it. I have to admit I've watched the accompanying video several times and love to see the pile of books and can't help but wonder if she's a fellow Tsundoku practitioner.

"Antarctica" opens with a distinctly avant-garde sound, threaded with hints of jazz. On paper it shouldn’t work, my mind kept telling me so, yet it’s impossible not to be drawn in, especially once the vocals begin, unusually accompanied by trombone. It sounds gloriously mad when you describe it, but you quickly let go and allow yourself to be carried along on a genuinely wondrous ride.

Almost feeling like a continuation of the previous track, "20 Days of Summer" opens with a low synth bass line before heading off in a different direction. For me, the music takes centre stage here, and that is quite the statement. As always, Marta’s voice is wonderful, but this time it feels more in service of the music, which has a deeply immersive quality.

A flip and then a flop and the vocals once again take centre stage on "Alpha Centauri". It is hard not to be swept up by the vocal performance, yet for me the track initially carries an empty quality. Yes, it is slower and more deliberate, but it feels a little hollow until the chorus arrives. At that point it suddenly comes alive, though the contrast makes it feel almost like two different songs spliced together.

The start to the next track "Shoe Shaped Cloud", a bass guitar, sounds almost like a heartbeat. Slow and deliberate, joined then just by Marta's vocals, soft and heartfelt. As the song unfolds there's a wonderful ethereal synth sound that comes in and takes the song to a different level. I have to admit towards the end of the track, I felt somewhat strangely emotional, but it felt good.

"Neon Lights" is a curious one. Musically, it opens with a spacey feel, while lyrically it comes across as almost childlike, but that does little to prepare you for what follows. Around the fifty second mark, it shifts into an almost psychedelic groove, reminiscent of Gong. The lyrical delivery takes on a heavy metal cadence, bringing to mind bands like Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden, but with a much softer touch. And just when you think it can’t get any stranger, it does. On paper, it shouldn’t work, yet somehow it does.

At just under two minutes "Gold Mine" is something of an interlude, maybe a little late in the album, but it's an intriguing soundscape of interesting sounds, instrumentation and vocal harmonies.

The first track to feature an additional vocalist, “Some Days” is slow and deliberate, with no sense of rushing. Marta’s voice remains in her usual higher register, while Fenne’s is deeper and richer. When they harmonize, the two create a strikingly complementary blend.

The final track, "Oh My Father", feels like a gentle wind-down, bringing the album to a satisfying conclusion. It begins sparsely, with just guitar and vocals, later joined by saxophone and drums, creating a subtle but beautiful shift in tone and texture, a perfect way to close the album.

This is an album that has truly stopped me in my tracks. A cursory listen isn’t enough to grasp it fully, and even after multiple plays, I’m left wanting more. Each subsequent listen seems to reveal something new. It’s a genuinely magical album.