I Sincopatici - 2026 - La Corazzata Potemkin

(40:45; I Sincopatici)

Track list:
1. Uomini E Vermi 5:50
2. Dramma Sul Ponte 9:54
3. Il Morto Chiama 7:06
4. La Scalinata Di Odessa 8:54
5. Una Contro Tutte 9:01

Line-up:
Francesca Badalini - piano, guitars
Silvia Maffeis  - violin
Andrea Grumelli  - bass
Teo Ravelli - drums, electronics 


Prolusion.
Italian band I Sincopatici has been an active part of the Italian music landscape for a decade and a bit, primarily performing live sets of music to accompany classic era silent movies if I have understood matters correctly. In the fall of 2024 they released their debut album "Decimo Cerchio", and now in early 2026 they have self released the album "La Corazzata Potëmkin".

Analysis.
The music of this band is inspired by the silent movies they accompany, and while their first release revolved around the 1911 silent movie "L'Inferno", this new album celebrates and accompanies the 1925 silent movie "Battleship Potemkin".

For this new album the band has a four member constellation, and the compositions are instrumental all the way through. That the landscapes explored have certain cinematic qualities is obviously a detail one will expect in this case, and for this production I'd say that the piano and the violin are the core instruments in use, while the use of electronic effects of various kinds defines much of the impression we get throughout this enjoyable and fascinating instrumental journey.

Most of these compositions ebb and flow between more careful and delicate passages and more firm and often heavy set parts. With frequent side steps into more expressive territories along the way, often somewhat dramatic, alongside the occasional fragile and frail interlude. The piano is often the constant here, often with a dominant display, with the violin as a careful as well as dramatic and expressive presence on top. Electronic sounds, usually as noise textures of some kind or other, will complement the landscapes explored. With the most defining role for these effects being in the calmer parts of these excursions.

Towards the end we also get a more hard hitting, elongated display where the guitar is brought in as a vibrant and strikingly dominant element, wedged in between the elegant, careful and expressive piano and violin driven parts.

Conclusion.
I'm not familiar with the silent movie the music on this album is inspired by and have been made to accompany, but I find the landscapes explored here to be striking and intriguing on a number of levels. The ebb and flow in each of the songs and the variation present throughout makes for a really fascinating experience, and for my sake at least I find the guitar driven passage on the concluding 'Una Contro Tutte' to be a high point on a production that is solid through and through. A production to seek out if you enjoy elegant and expressive progressive instrumental rock that combine atmospheric laden cinematic qualities with impulses of a more dramatic and expressive nature.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, March 2026

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/I.Sincopatici