Profondamente Hozier

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Profondamente Hozier Profondamente Hozier L’attesissimo secondo lavoro dell’intrigante rocker irlandese Hozier ripropone la carta vincente offerta da una visione artistica spregiudicata quanto anticonformista / 01.04.2019 di Benedicta Froelich Sarà forse stata la crescente ed entusiastica aspettativa dei sempre più numerosi ammiratori – o, magari, semplicemente la propria, improvvisa ansia creativa – ma ecco che, appena pochi giorni fa, il geniale cantautore irlandese Hozier ha infine dato alle stampe il suo secondo, attesissimo album, inaspettatamente giunto nei negozi a meno di sei mesi dall’uscita dell’apprezzato EP introduttivo Nina Cried Power. Uno sforzo, questo Wasteland, Baby!, in cui, ancor più che nell’eponimo esordio del 2014, l’artista oggi definibile come il più «americano» tra i cantanti anglosassoni rivolge un sentito omaggio alle proprie radici musicali – da sempre affondate nel miglior gospel d’annata, e in tutto ciò che ruota attorno all’universo popolare statunitense nella sua declinazione più raffinata e vintage. Al punto che uno dei pezzi migliori del CD, l’irresistibile Almost (Sweet Music), costituisce, dal primo all’ultimo verso, un tributo al songbook jazz e swing a stelle e strisce, sapientemente imperniato su di un continuo gioco di citazioni e riferimenti a celeberrimi standard d’epoca e agli eroi di allora, da Duke Ellington a Chet Baker. E se la grande passione di Hozier per quel mondo ormai démodé brilla soprattutto in Nina Cried Power, già travolgente title track del recente EP – in cui i vocals della leggendaria Mavis Staples evocano la lotta per l’emancipazione dei grandi performer «ribelli» del passato – anche quest’album costituisce un’orgogliosa riaffermazione dell’amore per le sonorità gospel, le quali trovano ampio respiro nei travolgenti To Noise Making (Sing) e in Be. Senza dimenticare un pezzo da brivido come l’epico Movement – idealmente dedicato a Sergei Polunin, straordinario quanto tormentato ballerino ucraino che, dopo aver rilanciato la propria carriera grazie a una meravigliosa interpretazione danzata della prima hit di Hozier (Take Me to Church), ha graziato con il suo talento anche il videoclip di questo stesso brano, volteggiando su versi del calibro di «quando tu ti muovi, riesco a ricordarmi di qualcosa che ormai non esiste più in me»; mentre pezzi come Nobody e Dinner & Diatribes (quest’ultimo prescelto come più recente singolo promozionale) offrono una commistione da manuale tra rock alternativo, folk e spiritual, e perfino un po’ di sano R’n’B. Tuttavia, la tracklist conferma come il vero punto di forza di Hozier risieda tuttora nella sua invidiabile (e tutt’altro che scontata) capacità di sorprendere l’ascoltatore, conducendolo verso sentieri inaspettati, ben lontani da qualsiasi «comfort zone»; e del resto, la passione del cantante per le tematiche ambigue (e, per certi versi, inquietanti) si è palesata fin dal già citato Take Me to Church, in cui l’atto di ribellione implicito nell’impulso liberatorio della sessualità veniva utilizzato come antidoto a un giudicante perbenismo di matrice religiosa. Non stupisce quindi che anche Wasteland, Baby! sia contraddistinto dal coraggio anticonformista dei testi, spesso incentrati sulla curiosa commistione tra un drammatico rigore e la più vibrante sensualità. Suggestioni più che evidenti in un pezzo arguto quale Sunlight, in apparenza coinvolgente brano romantico («il tuo amore è come la luce del sole»), in cui, tuttavia, l’arguta metafora del volo di Icaro – con cui il narratore si identifica – finisce presto per sottolineare come, in realtà, simili immagini possano presentare una connotazione assai diversa dalla loro interpretazione più scontata e istintiva. In tal senso, anche l’aspra tensione narrativa di As It Was e Talk richiama da vicino le atmosfere disturbanti tanto care a Hozier; e in effetti, uno dei pezzi più efficaci del disco è proprio la ballata Would That I, che riprende un tema già esplorato dall’autore, ovvero la fascinazione quasi morbosa per il fuoco e per il suo potere distruttivo, metafora dell’irrazionalità spesso autolesionista del desiderio. E se l’impressione di alcuni ascoltatori è stata che, a tratti, Wasteland, Baby! non presentasse la medesima forza espressiva trasmessa dall’esordio del 2014, basta tuttavia ascoltare brani ad alto voltaggio emotivo come la title track e la straziante ballata Shrike per rendersi conto della forza e dinamicità espressive di cui Hozier è dotato – caratteristiche che, insieme alla sfrontatezza del suo impulso creativo, lo distinguono da molti coetanei, troppo impegnati a seguire il «manuale» della perfetta hit da classifica per dare davvero voce ai propri pensieri, e, soprattutto, ai turbamenti e profondi conflitti interiori tanto ampiamente documentati dall’artista irlandese. Perché, sotto questa luce, l’eccentrico Hozier potrebbe definirsi come un «vero» cantautore, inteso secondo l’accezione più nobile del termine: qualcuno che, in un’epoca fortemente incline all’omologazione creativa, insiste nel proporre una visione artistica personale e ben poco convenzionale, in più impreziosita da un’introspezione sempre vivace – e, tuttavia, libera da qualsiasi pedanteria o forma di giudizio..
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