Reviews
Artist:Guilia Millanta Album: Woman On The Moon
Label: Ugly Cat Music
Tracks: 14
Website: https://www.guiliamillanta.com
Originally from Florence, but now based in Austin, Millanta describes her new album as a "lofi smoky indie folk record with a European twist", one featuring a diverse array of instrumentation which, at one point, includes a wet towel in a bathroom sink and an empty pizza box containing uncooked rice, the chimes from a grandfather clock and, calm down now, her own naked thighs, as well slightly more conventional touches like bowed Stratocaster and baritone guitar.
There' a pleasing mix of sounds and styles as she explores separation and unity, sanity and madness, mistakes and redemption, and our masculine and feminine aspects, here opening with the piano notes and understated guitar of 'Mad Man On The Moon' with its theme of anticipation ("When morning comes/I'm on top of the world/Holding my breath/Dreaming the day is wrapped in mother of pearl") with the silence "like a brand new song/Melodies, notes and words/I haven't heard in so long", finding release in connecting with the emotion the woman brings.
A slightly choppier rhythmic sway and resonator guitar carry 'Run Away', basically a song in which the woman says she's had enough of his non-committal shit ("Your lack of direction/Your own reflection/Is not taking you too far"), assuring him "I'm not setting traps", but if he continues to hold back then "This time I know where to go/To get all the love that I need".
'The Ghost of Yourself' has a more percussive base as its prowls around similar thematic territory ("The story of your life/You told a million times/was never enough/To keep me satisfied/Your deepest end/Is shallow and dull") while the breathily-sung, late night astral blues 'The World Is In Your Heart (dreamy)' is about getting in touch with yourself ("In your mind you feel undone/You never lost you never won/You feel broken/There's a simple remedy/Close your eyes & you'll see/Touch your chest and feel the beat/The world is in your heart"). The song is reprised later in a (rocking) version, though it's still a narcotic torch ballad pace.
Again about following your own heartbeat, the catchiest chorus comes with the chugging 'Looking for Bliss' as, prowling like a feline, she sings that "You know something's gotta give/When you are looking looking looking for bliss/In all the wrong places, all the wrong faces". On the jazz-blues tango-styled 'You Don't Wanna Know' (a warning not to look for the hidden monsters of your psyche) she part sings in Italian, going the whole hog later with the twang-guitar backed 'Vola Via', though the feel is more Piaf than Pavone.
A consistently compelling listen, its completed with the noirish balladry of 'The Guest' ("The color of your soul is black and blue/Like the feathers you wear at night/When the sun goes down"), the spooked cabaret feel of 'Go South' ("Don't ever let them find you /With secrets in your mouth/If they catch you by surprise /Everything goes south") about ennui ("Heaven is too far/Your demons easily bore/Being a good boy/Just feels like a tedious chore/Hell is just another/Place you used to go/Nothing really new/Just people eating crow") and the equally intimate confessional desert night quality of 'The Distance in Between' ("I can (will) learn to be quiet/Hold my own hand/And be my best friend"). Finally, she ends her explorations of identity with the gently swaying 'The Way That You Are' and its affirmation of the nature of love and belonging ("They say that you're vapor, I say that you're clouds/And you make me pick up my guitar/'Cause I love you the way that you are") and perhaps, ultimately, a love letter to the mystery of the moon and its pull : "Though they say that you can't support life from within/But they say that you're rocks, I say that you're stars/You made me look up so far/And I love you the way that you are".
An album about connecting with others and your inner self, if you reach for the moon you can embrace the stars.
Mike Davies
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