Most of the pop music that's come out of Italy in recent years has been less than adventurous, to say the least. Dominated by tepid Eurodisco and schmaltzy synth ballads, the country would seem an unlikely hotbed for political power-folk, but that's exactly the purview of Carmen Consoli, who made her Gotham debut a memorable one Tuesday night.
Consoli was preceded by a reputation as the Italian Ani DiFranco, but that's just one part of her sometimes overly complex persona. Accompanied by a bassist and multi-instrumentalist who focused on mandolin, she used this acoustic set to showcase a series of guises, ranging from art pixie to PJ Harvey-like belter.

The dark, brooding "Massino" was perhaps the best song presented, as it split the difference between those two facets, with Consoli eking out her lyrics stingingly amid a flurry of spiky guitar lines. "Lalleanza" was equally aggressive, its blues-based structures recalling early '70s Brit forebears like Free or "Beggars Banquet"-era Rolling Stones.

Buoyed by a supportive aud -- heavily skewed toward Italian expats, it seemed -- Consoli was comfortable enough to take things way down for a smattering of strikingly subdued songs. "L'Eccizone," the piece most evocative of the singer's homeland, came across as a wisp of a song, fragile and nearly unfinished, that might've been lost had the crowd shown less than a keen interest.

While Consoli delivered most of her perf in her native language, her English forays carried a fluency that bodes well for her chances among cutting-edge