Social Limbo

This is the second album from Opez, led by guitarist Massi Amadori, and one which continues their exploration into melancholic nostalgia. We open into the soundworld of cheesy Italian pop from the 1950s and 60s, the influence of which is to the fore on tracks such as ‘Umbra’ and ‘Venezia’. The album begins to come to life with ‘Social Roll’ and ‘Mossa Nova’, which, as the latter title suggests, have a Latin beat, and ‘Limbo’, which is rather sweet and has a birdsong introduction. However, the tempo drops again, and we are back with the Morricone-like guitar lines that sound as though they come straight out of the Cinecittà of the 1970s. It is hard to hear Amadori’s imagined fluidity of being ‘female, sensitive, sexy’ in any of this, nor the urgency of ‘social raids’ and contrast of ‘dark and light,’ all of which are claimed by the notes, but seem to be window dressing over relatively straightforward music-making. None of this is ground-breaking, but if you are looking for some evocative easy listening then this might be for you.