Diego Sandrin

"Diego Sandrin’s A Fine Day Between Addictions is a delicate folk record, but don’t let that fool you because lyrically it’s anything but. The Italian’s gentle acoustic arrangements are offset by his heavy storytelling, often evoking extreme images such as, “I’m gonna drown my lungs in water, gonna dive right through this pain.” As Diego mans the mic and acoustic guitar his partners in crime add a vast array of cello, violin, piano and percussion. The sounds give the album a unique cinematic quality, undoubtedly attributed not only to Sandrin’s breathtaking ability, but also to the production of famed Italian movie producer Romeo Toffanetti. Sandrin has clearly taken advantage of the rich history of music in the American South, absorbing the finer points of Delta blues, jazz and country while living in Baton Rouge, La. This is evidenced in the standout “Sammy’s Farm,” where plainly put Sandrin hits the nail on the head. With all the sappy, watered down singer songwriters today reaching for Grey’s Anatomy status, A Fine Day Between Addictions is like a warm sip of a fine scotch. " By Murray Sharp - American Songwriter Magazine

A formidable presence on the LA music scene (he co-wrote "Gone" with Lisa Marie Presley) and former member of a popular Italian punk band (Ice and the Iced), Diego Sandrin's debut album harkens back to the days when singer-songwriters were indeed confessional, as evidenced by the album's dedication "for all those who hold the world in contempt -- for dreamless and locked up ones everywhere for whom pain is a way of life." Despite the dour subjects addressed in "A Fine Day," Sandrin's plaintive melodies and quasi-orchestral arrangements are a most uplifting blend of heartland rock and adult contemporary. The ascending chord progression of "Bad Graces" affords a positive spin to a guy who'd either kill himself or move to California should his love remain unrequited. Orchestral flourishes evocative of Paul Buckmaster and Gus Dudgeon's groundbreaking work with a young Elton John abruptly stamp out the pastoral waltz verses of "My American Friends" -- yet another frightening tale of alienation. Fear not, Sandrin often employs Cindy (no last name given) to temper his temper with lovely vocal harmonies. Fans of the Wallflowers, Rufus Wainwright, and David Gray will likely be hooked." © Tom Semioli - Alan Fark

For those individuals that have to have pretty much any punk recording, the name Diego Sandrin will be
familiar. She was the mastermind behind the Italian punk group Ice and the Iced. Other individuals may know
Sandrin for the fact that Lisa Marie Presley included a song that she wrote with Sandrin on her album “To
Whom It May Concern”. There seems to be a pretty good buzz behind this album already, as the Sony Vaio line
has chosen one of the tracks from “A Fine Day Between Addictions” – “Sammy’s Farm” – to be loaded on their
computers.
The question comes up: “Is the album as good as it sounds on paper?” Simply put, the answer is yes. “Blanket”
Is the first track on the album, and while the style of the music present is not qualitatively different from any of
the singer-songwriter rock that has came out in the last decade, the soulful sounds of Sandrin’s vocals really will
make individuals think of a John Mellencamp or a Bob Dylan. The fact that the arrangements on this track can
be so Spartan and yet still carry listeners to the end of the song shows the ability of Sandrin, as well as bringing
individuals to the second track, “From Music To Nothing”. “From Music To Nothing” has more in the way of
instrumentation creating the net with which the vocals can rest, but the focal point of the track remains on
Sandrin’s vocals. The vocals this time change in style slightly, moving towards more of a Chris Isaak type of
sound than anything.
The use of a second vocal layer during the track gives the song a full sound that differentiates it from the rest of
the tracks on the disc. This bodes well for Sandrin, as it becomes hard to fall into a rut when one is continually
shifting the styles present on an album as Sandrin does on “A Fine Day Between Addictions”. The second set of
vocals continue during “Bad Graces”, and the hopeful sound of each set of vocals during this track continue the
same solid sound that has graced the previous tracks on the album. Even when Sandrin slows things down, as is
the case during “45,000,000 and One”, the clarity and smooth sound of his vocals will ensure that listeners stick
with the disc. Sandrin will be the next big thing when it comes to emotional, guitar-led pop music; listen to a
“Faulty Mind” or “Pigeons” and I can ensure that one will become a fan. - NEOFUTURE MAGAZINE

The best part of this job (if you could call it that, though you really can’t, since “job” sort of implies both compensation and irritation,
neither of which is involved here) is the completely unexpected stuff that just shows up one day in the mail.
Diego Sandrin is not a name you’re likely to be familiar with unless by some chance you’re an aficionado of either Italian punk band
Ice and the Iced (sorry, no) or “Gone,” the track he co-wrote with Lisa Marie Presley for her To Whom It May Concern album (which is
clearly too specific for us to be just making shit up here).
You might also have seen Sandrin’s name on Italian jazz albums – he had his own label, Sentemo -- or perhaps you caught him in an
LA nightclub fronting a band featuring an all-female string quartet. And if you’re thinking by now that this all sounds like the
screenplay to a particularly surrealistic European film, heh, as it happens A Fine Day Between Addictions was produced by Italian film
director Romeo Toffanetti, who had never been inside a recording studio before beginning work on this album at Acustic Studio, near
Venice (the one in Italy, not LA).
Deep breath now. Stay with me.
A Fine Day Between Addictions is a fascinating piece of work. Composed and sung mostly in English with the occasional Italian verses
and transliterations, it’s a distinctly cinematic cycle of avant-garde folk songs about the agonies of love, the meaning of life, and the
emptiness of modern Western culture.
Heavy? Yes. This is not an album you’ll want to dance to, but Sandrin has a wonderful, rather Mark Knoplfer-ish rumble to his vocals
from which tumble images and lines both compelling and obscure. The arrangements – mostly simple and spacious, featuring
acoustic guitar and piano, gentle percussion, frequent use of strings and occasional female background vocals – keep the focus on
Sandrin’s voice and storytelling, as well they should.
The inside front cover of the stylish, detailed lyric-book (each song gets its own page and facing illustration) is emblazoned with the
motto “LOVE DEVOURS,” and it doesn’t take long to understand what Sandrin is getting at. “Blanket” is a carefully modulated
portrait of a consuming, obsessive crush, a sort of acoustic hymn that finds Sandrin singing “I want your tongue your ears your
mouth / I want your reflection your every attention...” The chorus is where he reveals the core of the story, though: “I have a
blanket to crawl with you under / And I’ll have a storm there to shelter you from dear / Should I ever see you again.”
From there you get a series of equally evocative, if not always as intense, portraits of characters and scenarios. “From Music To
Nothing” portrays the disillusioning aftermath of a love not unlike the one in “Blanket”; “Bad Graces” is a sort of calm rant to the
same sort of reluctant lover. The middle section of the disc seems like a travelogue of a trip taken in an effort to forget the pain
experienced in the first three cuts, as Sandrin visits “Sammy’s Farm” and picks apart the foibles of “My American Friends.”
This escape doesn’t lead him out of the darkness, though, as in the final third Sandrin goes back to taunting his “Pretty Angel,”
ranges way off-topic to narrate one song as a teenaged abuse victim who fights back (“Aged 14 Years”), and closes with the rocking
“I’m Not Happy At All.”
For all this darkness, these tunes still carry the undercurrent of hope implied by the title, and by curiously ambiguous lines such as “It
takes a faulty mind like mine to be free.”
The fact that Toffanetti produced and arranged this album with no prior studio experience is frankly astonishing; every arrangement
feels pitch-perfect, matching tones and instrumental choices to the lyrics beautifully, and sonically this baby is clean as a whistle. On
an iPod, it sounds like Sandrin and company are sitting in the room with you.
There are times when the whole thing gets a bit overwrought – I did find the middle section of “My American Friends” over the top
with its swelling strings and horns and calculated-to-shock x-rated lyric; likewise the closing Italian-in-an-echo-chamber narration on
“Pretty Angel” – but overall, A Fine Day Between Addictions is a dynamic statement by an artist who melds seriousness of purpose with
real insight and entertainment value. Avril Lavigne it ain’t, but this is intriguing, challenging, compelling stuff. - www.dailyvault.com