This is what Europe is like today, even if compartmentalisation is just starting to revive: Cucina Povera is the name of the solo project of the Finnish musician with the Italian name Maria Rossi, who lives in Glasgow. Cucina povera is also Italian, meaning »poor cuisine«, because many traditional recipes from the various regions of the country are simple (like spaghetti al limone, for which, apart from the two ingredients mentioned, you basically only need oil and parmesan). Maria Rossi creates her music in a similarly simple and spartanic way. Besides her singing, only her computer seems to be used. The melodies, performed in Finnish, have a folkloristic effect, and sometimes an electronic drone is enough to accompany her. The sound is simple and almost unadorned, but the arrangement is open and slightly reverberant, often creating a vastness that can be filled out by the listener as needed. In fact, her reduced approach carries almost the entire record. If it deviates from the formula, like in »Polyton Nurkka«, in which a kind of simulated distorted electric guitar gives the bass, while a ringing synthesizer in the background supports the likewise strongly back-mixed voice, it has on the other hand something slightly laborious. Also the spinning arpeggios in the concluding »Jolkottelureitti« don’t really get off the ground despite all cosmic ambitions. The enigmatic beauty of »Tyyni« hardly diminishes this.
Tyyni
