LOCO IRONICO are a new musical duo… though new is maybe not the right description. Singer/songwriter Joe Cang has a 25 year music CV while his Ironico partner is the equally long toothed Italian pianist and composer Matteo Saggese.
Over the years the pair have worked together from time to time but last year, after a rainy day meeting in London they decided the time was right to make their own album… and the result is the laconic and enigmatic ‘Carpe Afternoon’.
The 11 tracker is hard to pin down. The most obvious elements in the cocktail though are New Orelans blues and jazz, Caribbean calypso and gentle, swaying Cuban rhythms…. indeed in places (‘Laughing Hyenas’ and ‘Beautiful Land’, for instance) you’ll be pleasantly reminded of the Buena Vista Social Club. Hardly surprising! The album was engineered by Jerry Boys who’s worked with the legendary Cuban musicians and Ry Cooder. The boys themselves describe the album as “eleven songs of heartache, shipwreck and weight loss!” and helping them deliver are guests like guitaristsTony Remy and Phil Manzanera along with Stevie Wonder’s trumpeter Steve Sidwell.
The duo are on tour through June/July and you can find out more @ www.locoironico.com . If you’re intrigued by the prospect of “Music for those with a taste for the ironic and the laconic and for those who prefer whiskey to tonic”, you may well want to investigate!
