Italy's oboist-turned-singer-songwriter Francesco Marcheselli is a breath of fresh and unmistakably human air in a realm dominated by over-glossed pop and auto-tune repetition on his latest single, "It's Raining Outside." This track is not just a song but rather a window into the soul of a jazz student with a blues-soaked heart. Francesco Marcheselli is just starting on his path as a songwriter, but given the soul and genuineness expressed here, it's pretty evident he has already found his voice.
Marcheselli, now in his third year of jazz studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, has composed music that seems to maturely straddle a line between classical control and raw emotional abandon. "It's Raining Outside" is like a private confession set to music, a blues ballad that brings you in close with that soft patter of rain and leaves you soaked in sentiment.
His background as an oboist shines through not because the oboe is at the center but due to his mastery of his phrasing and his feel for how sounds can mesh and disperse. There's a lyrical dimension to his playing and singing that says a lot. You can also hear the jazz influence, not in complexity but in soulful spontaneity, the sense that everything's being lived out in real-time. Marcheselli inherits the tradition and makes it personal. You can hear this music has been inside him since childhood. And now, singing his material for the first time, he's asking the world to join him.
The most remarkable thing about the song is how it casually slips into the intimate. Marcheselli's voice isn't showy; it's honest. There is a frail honesty in every note he sings, and the minimal but purposeful arrangement beautifully matches it. He doesn't have to be with a full band, with walls of sound, to make you feel something, but that restraint makes this track so effective. "It's Raining Outside" is a delicate, arresting statement from a man who doesn't seek to dazzle you but is content to make you feel with him. The song isn't for moonlit lovers, soldiering, or crowds of fans singing along, but it's a song for those quiet nights, the deep thoughts, and for anyone who still thinks music should come from the heart.
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