21 grammi by Giuseppe Cucé

Giuseppe Cucé’s 21 Grammi is a warm-blooded, southern European tapestry woven from soul, cantautorato, and lightly brushed shades of Latin music. The album feels acoustic, alive, and deeply human. Every instrument breathes. Every phrase carries emotional intention. And throughout its eleven tracks, Cucé’s voice is never an ornament or an authority, but a vital thread: integrated, embraced, and perfectly fused with the ensemble around him.

Nothing here is overproduced. Nothing tries to shine at the expense of something else. Instead, the album feels like a circle of musicians in the same room, exchanging glances, breathing the same air, each adding to a shared emotional architecture. It’s the rare kind of record where everything is welded into one expressive organism.

The opening track, “È tutto così vero” (“Everything Is So Real”), bursts forward with bright energy. Its brass counter-melodies wrap around the main vocal line, giving the melody a surprising depth and a sense of joyful motion. As the lyrics say: 

Without losing the album’s emotional thread, the mood turns introspective in “Ventuno” (“Twenty-One”), a gentle, sentimental ballad carried by a calm, restrained arrangement that lets vulnerability rise to the surface.

From there, “Dimmi cosa vuoi” (“Tell Me What You Want”) leans into a more pop-inflected rhythm. The steady groove and drum set bring a different kind of clarity to the track, something more contemporary, yet still sensitive in tone. “Fragile equilibrio” (“Fragile Balance”) shifts the energy upward again: the piano’s chord progression lays down an ascending structure, allowing the piece to grow gradually more intense. Synth touches and an electric guitar introduce a soft rock aura, widening the album’s emotional landscape. As Giuseppe sings:

The softness returns in “La mia dea” (“My Goddess”), built on cocktail-style piano, intimate strings, and a tender vocal line. What begins as a deeply personal confession evolves into a flowing sequence of rises and falls, shaped by the subtle entrance of percussion. A sentimental piece,

“Cuore d’inverno” (“Winter Heart”) deepens the color palette with slightly darker harmonic shades, still serene, still expressive, but with a more shadowed emotional hue than the tracks before it.

The pop-rock spirit resurfaces in “Tutto quello che vuoi” (“Everything You Want”), a lighter, accessible moment before the album’s emotional weight returns. “Una notte infinita” (“An Endless Night”) is one of the most sentimental pieces in the collection, placing the voice at its core while the strings broaden the emotional space around it. 

Finally, “Di estate non si muore” (“In Summer One Does Not Die”) closes the record with a mysterious, evocative opening, diminished chords, a quietly circling piano line, and a bass arpeggio that grows toward a harmonic resolution. The guitar, entering almost like a memory, completes the album’s final gesture with a sense of arrival.

21 Grammi is a deeply expressive work, one that listens back to the listener. It captures the weight of what remains when we strip life to its emotional essence. It’s a record of subtle truths, small miracles, and fragile balances—held together by a voice that trusts vulnerability more than spectacle.

Credits

Produzione artistica: Riccardo Samperi (TRP Vibes)

Registrazione e mix: TRP Studios – Catania

Mastering: Pietro Caramelli, Claudio Giussani – Energy Mastering (Milano)

Edizioni: Track Records Productions

Etichetta: TRP Vibes

Distribuzione: EGEA Music

Musicisti

Voce: Giuseppe Cucè

Organo Hammond: Anthony Panebianco

Chitarre: Riccardo Samperi

Pianoforte: Claudio Allia, Giuseppe Furnari

Basso: Alberto Fidone

Batteria: Enzo Di Vita

Percussioni: Gionata Colaprisca

Programming percussion e keyboards: Pat Legato

Cori: Lilla Costarelli, Teresa Raneri

TRP Studio Orchestra (prime parti)

Giovanni Cucuccio – violino I

Marcello Spina – violino II

Gaetano Adorno – viola

Alessandro Longo – violoncello

Direttore: Giuseppe Furnari

Fiati

Sax tenore e flauto – Marcello Leanza

Trombone – Nando Sorbello

Sax alto – Marco Bella

Tromba – Francesco Bella

Visual & Video

Fotografia – Luca Guarneri

Regia videoclip – Gianluca Scalia (Kemedia)

Total look maker – Chiara Samperi

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