Debuting nations are always an unknown quantity at Eurovision. Rarely do they disappoint; more often, in recent years, they have surprised for their ingenuity and for bringing something new to the contest. Style-wise it was therefore hard to know what to expect from San Marino as their first ever entry. I had been hoping for something that would give the detractors reason to feel that Eurovision could be heading west in 2009, showing up the alleged big guns in the process. In the event we got Complice.Not that it's all bad news. While it doesn't exactly fill me with the conviction that the contest will be heading back this side of the Adriatic next year, the song certainly maintains the tradition of the new boys fronting up with something you wouldn't necessarily have anticipated. Its blend of alternative, progressive, classical and electronica immediately had me thinking of Muse, but with a slightly less polished edge to it.
The arrangement, though deftly constructed, has me in two minds: at times the brooding furrowedness of it seems to suit the song perfectly, while elsewhere it tends to jar with the romanticism of the lyrics. Then again, perhaps the music is better attuned than it appears; there are some rather complicated ideas and emotions at work in the lyrics, after all. At least you won't find me arguing that they don't exhibit the poetry of many an Italian entry in the past.
How Miodio will fare at the San Marinese premiere is anyone's guess. There is plenty of scope within the song itself for a memorable technical presentation (by which I mean lighting, backdrops, camera work and the like), beyond which it is all down to the lads themselves and how effectively they manage to sell the song. Regardless of the comparisons that are being drawn between Complice and Salvem El Món, the Andorra entry in Helsinki, they are simply not on the same shelf.
1 comment:
For those who reckon this is in with a shot at the final, I'd like to ask the following. When did a rock ballad ever do the business at Eurovision? To say nothing of a rock ballad from a dwarf state with no friends to speak of and no obvious linguistic affinities to plug into. Add to this the fact that it's sung by a Woody Allen lookalike whose terminal whine of a voice implies an equally pressing need for lifelong psychotherapy and its fate is sealed I fear.
On the bright side, it is a classy effort and I'm full of admiration that San Marino went with an unconventional act that has a real claim to representing them, rather than just drafting in an Italian showbiz mercenary as most people assumed they would. And I agree that there is the potential for it to sound and look fairly massive live if they are blessed with the perfect mix of sound and vision on the night.
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