Short Reviews [Andres Guazzelli - 2020 - "Atypical"]

If one was to be given the opening track of this progressive album from multi-instrumentalist Andres Guazzelli to play without knowing the concept, then one might wonder what on earth was going on. It starts normally enough with delicate underlying piano but soon becomes fractured, dissonant, with instruments coming in and taking over, switching melodies and styles, sometimes forceful, and others quiet, and what on earth is that noise in the background? Andres has been public about his suffering with ADHD, described by Sarah Young like this, “The hardest thing about ADHD is that it’s ‘invisible’ to outsiders. Living with ADHD is like being locked in a room with 100 televisions and 100 radios all playing. None of them have power buttons so you can’t turn them off and the door is locked from the outside.” The concept behind this album is an attempt to put this into music, with the six tracks each portraying a symptom of the disorder. The first four named after the acronym of ADHD: “Attention”, “Deficit”, “Hyperactivity” and “Disorder” with the others being “Hyperfocus” and “Neurodiverse”. The booklet contains a short sentence on what each of these means, so the listener can understand what Andres is attempting to achieve. In recent years there has been far less of a stigma around mental health, and it is far more widely recognised, with the associated issue that mental illness has become far more prevalent in young people at the same time due to the constant pressures and images they are being bombarded with 24/7. This is why it is so important for people to undertake art like this, as only Andres can say if this is an accurate representation of what he goes through on a daily basis, but through this medium I feel I can get some small understanding of what he suffers and how he operates within the world. On a purely musical level this instrumental album is fascinating in the way he switches and changes, with electric guitar often being the lead, with the bass often providing close harmony, while piano and other keyboards are also incredibly important. There are times when it is incredibly pleasant and enjoyable, others where it is goes off at a tangent, but that is quite deliberate as that is how Andres is representing how his mind works and it is these switches that allows the listener to gain that insight. This is some piece of work as although some may have some reservations if hearing the album without understanding what Andres is looking to achieve, but once that is made clear then this pulls ADHD sharply into focus. Well worthy of investigation.