Sleepless Nights CD Review

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Thursday 13 August 1998 (Michael Bugeja - The Malta Independent)

After the recent promotional tour that accompanied the launch of his two-track CD single, Alfiero follows through with the release of his full length effort Sleepless Nights, a concept album that has as its roots an introspective study look beyond the several disturbing episodes that everyone passes through at some point or other in their life, namely uncertainty, despair, heartbreak and death. Drawing on personal experiences for inspiration, Alfiero's work points to a very personal soul search, and as such is largely a solo project. But, with the subject matter being of such a humane and familiar nature, the songs possess a quality that will appeal to everyone in general, and not just the artist himself.

Kicking off with a thunderstorm, the album proceeds to walk the troubled path weaving through Alfiero's personal space, and, as he pours out his grief and anguish, the music treads along delicately, pursuing a mainly mellow tone, only gaining momentum to unleash outbursts of anger and despair, until it finally rests in the soothing arms of the acoustic rambling of the album closer Faith, which sees the singer rediscovering strength in the power of love, more of the universal and spiritual kind, as opposed to the romantic sort. There are many instances on Sleepless Nights' that reflect glimpses of Alfiero's musical influences, including shades of Pink Floyd, Marillion, Queensryche and even Bon Jovi, but the material is impressive in its originality, emphasized in no small way by the performance of several locally established musicians, such as Chris Scicluna of Krave, Trevor Catania of Different Light, Mark Attard of Bigfoot, jazz musician Colin Zammit Lupi as well as his brother Aidan. Alongside these session players, Alfiero has employed a number of relatively unknown musicians, among them the striking guitarwork of Kevin Vella (il-Lega) and Eric Santucci, who handles his share pretty well too.

Sleepless Nights is hard evidence of Alfiero's labour of love. It is the fruit of many days and nights sacrificed towards the production of songs that as a whole present a glance through the artist's aural diary. Out of nowhere, Alfiero has come forward with a record that, in its genuine depth and passion, outshines other more lighthearted efforts released by other local talent. Where other albums have perhaps been more focused on clocking up sales, this young musician, to his credit, has chosen to concentrate on creating a heartfelt piece of work first, and counting the numbers later. This is also probably why it may take him a while longer to become a household name like Characters or Limestone Kick.