The Piano Poet - Federico Albanese

Federico Albanese, an Italian pianist, discusses his inspirations and musical journey in an interview. He talks about growing up in a working-class family in Milan and how his mother believed in the importance of a musical education. Federico started studying piano and later explored other genres like punk rock and jazz. He discusses the evolution of his music and how it became a way for him to process and express his emotions. Federico emphasizes the importance of attitude and spontaneity in music. He also mentions his influences, including bands like Sex Pistols and Nirvana. As a parent, he hopes to support his own children in discovering their artistic expression. Federico describes his music as instrumental post-classical or neoclassical, but notes that the labels are not as important to him as the act of creating music. I thought I'd send Tara this song and see what she does. And she turned it into something magnificent, and it's the first piece to Lost to be Found. The thing that I'm fascinated about this kind of band, like, you know, television, Texas Pistols as well, it was the attitude they put into this, that I think it's important to keep, because it keeps the music extremely spontaneous, eventually. I do believe, you know, like my mom used to believe, that music is, practical music especially, and studying an instrument is very important. Everybody that I know has more or less this feeling of, like, what am I doing now, you know, like, why would I go on to what I do? It felt so unnecessary, the art, the music in general. But then, it turned back to be the extremeness of that. Hello everyone, welcome back to the Artidote Podcast, I'm Vashek Armenikos, your host. My guest today is Italian pianist Federico Albanese, or as one magazine called him, the piano poet. All of the art is a web of inspirations, and that web of inspirations is clearly visible in what Federico creates. His previous album, By the Deep Sea, was inspired by a poem written by Lord Byron. This July, he's releasing a collaborative EP with Tara Nome Doyle, which is called The Moments We Keep, inspired by Virginia Woolf's writings. I had the privilege to sit down with Federico and talk about his inspirations, from Sex Pistols, Federico Fellini, and Virginia Woolf, to the meaning of music in our modern world, and what was it like to be a musician during the pandemic. Federico's and Tara's EP is already out on all streaming platforms. You can find all the links in the description, and I hope you'll enjoy listening to this interview. Thank you so much, Federico, for coming. I would like this interview to be about inspirations, and what inspires you, and what keeps you creating. I've discovered you from your latest album, not the soundtrack, In the Blue Sea, and I've read somewhere that you got inspired by Byron, and he's one of my favorite poets. I really wanted to meet you to ask some questions about your inspirations, and how you got into music. I would like to ask you, my first question would be, can you tell a little bit about yourself, where you grew up, how did you encounter music, can you remember, was there a special moment for you? Oh, yeah, that's a good question. Yes, of course, I mean, I grew up in, you know, I grew up in a pretty simple worker family in Milan. I was born in 1982, and I was living in a central area of Milan, but it was very, it was called, this neighborhood was called The Island, and it was not such a cool place to live back then. It was very, it's kind of, it was cool, you know, it was like popular, so to say, and you know, working class people were living there, and so I didn't really grow up with any fanciness of like, of potential, of me potentially becoming an artist or anything like that, you know, my family were workers, you know, and, but my mother had a, she was convinced that a musical education somehow would help growing up a child, you know, would be something that would be important for the development of a character, of a person, you know. She was convinced by that, and without really having any background in music or anything, you know, so, but then, so she would always take me when I was very little to theater to see the orchestra playing, and every Sunday we would go to this kind of like church where they were doing, or auditorium close to a church, close by where they were doing the orchestra. It was an orchestra that was doing rehearsals, that it was open for the public to go and see them perform, and so I was doing that, and then when I was, when I was like at my kindergarten age, I was spending afternoons, there was a shop in, close by my, where I was living, in the same area, there was a shop that was run by an old guy, and it was an antique instrument shop, so there was a lot of old pianos, cembalos, antique instruments, right? And this guy was, was keeping the kids to the neighborhood, and in the afternoon or in the morning, you know, instead of going to kindergarten, and so I spent a lot of time there and, you know, surrounded by this music, basically, and then this guy, remember, my mother always tells me this story that this guy told her at some point that I should study music because I had a good year. He thought that I had a good year, you know? So my mother took that advice, I think, for granted, and then I started studying piano, you know? Theory and piano. I was going, not at the conservatory, but like some kind of subsidiary school of the conservatory in the afternoons or after school, and I started studying theory, a lot of theory and then piano, and I went on for quite a while until I was a teenager, basically, and then I sort of, I guess, you know, my interest then switched into something different, you know, music-wise, you know? I was more triggered by different genres of music, not classical at all, I was more into punk rock and indie rock music and, you know, the early Nirvanas and, you know, the 90s, Radiohead and so on. So I pursued, I started pursuing another path musically, you know? I was playing bass and then I was fascinated by jazz music. My dad was a big jazz music fan and we had a lot of jazz records and he once, I remember, I think it was my 14th birthday, something like that, he gave me a clarinet for my birthday. Two things, a clarinet and a ticket to go and see a Green Day concert. Two different things, you know? And then I started studying privately clarinet as well with this private instructor in Milan and I went on with that for a couple of years and then I stopped and then I started to study bass with the bass teacher and, you know, it was always connected with jazz, you know? I had an interest into jazz music in general after studying clarinet, but I wanted to explore bass, but then eventually I ended up playing in rock bands and pop rock bands, bass rather than jazz. So, but then I went to normal high school, you know, I've been to, I studied, then I went to university, I studied literature for a few years, then I changed and I studied philosophy for another few years, but I never really finished university. And music was always there, you know? It was always, it accompanied me throughout my whole life basically, you know? So in the end what I came up with is that what I'm doing now is somehow a, you know, a sum of all my musical experience and passion that I had throughout my life. I wonder what posters did you have on your wall when you were growing up? Who were on the walls of Federico Albanese? Oh, well, Nirvana for sure, for a very long time I was, you know, massive fan of Nirvana, Sex Pistols, so all the 77 punks from the UK and Beatles obviously, you know, Led Zeppelin, The Who, television, Marky Moon, I think I still have like a poster of television playing live and never seen them obviously, I mean never went to see them, never had a chance, but I was a big fan of that, like progressive music basically, you know, music that was touching boundaries somehow, you know, as Nirvana did, the television and all that kind of stuff. I wonder if it wasn't music, what do you think would be more attractive art form for you? I see some brushes behind you with some paints, I wonder what would be the other art form that you would express if music wasn't there for you? Well, that's like, you know, that mainly belongs to my partner, she's a painter, but I also do paint myself sometimes, I do sketches and things, but I don't think that visual art was, you know, would ever be, I mean I'm very passionate about it, I love it, but I don't think that that is my way to express, you know, I don't think I have enough instruments to be able to express what I would like to express with art in general, so I, you know, I found music as my vehicle to express certain kind of things, you know, it allows me to reach like a deeper level and so, you know, I don't know, I guess if I would not have been a musician I probably would have done something completely different. I have other passions that are not related to art. Poetry, philosophy. Poetry, philosophy, cooking, I really love cooking and I love, you know, everything that's connected with food and wine and all that stuff, so, and somehow it connects as well with my musical adventures in a way. Do you remember that moment when you realized that you can express the deeper feelings via music in contrast to the other forms of art, that moment when you realized that it is through music that you would like to express your soul, was there a particular period of life or even maybe a moment? Well, not necessarily, I mean, I don't know, it was a slow process, you know, it was a slow process of realization, so to say, you know, I realized that over the years by doing it that I was able to, you know, process my own feeling in a certain way, you know, I was never there to say, there was not a moment when I said, okay, now I know that I, that via, you know, through music I can, I can do, I can express certain feelings, you know, I can describe certain emotions. It was more like an ongoing process that eventually led me on to understand that the music is the vehicle that I, not consciously, but subconsciously chosen to exercise the experience, you know, what happens throughout all my life, basically, and it's all, you know, it's like a timeline, you know, like everything that I write, that I produce, that I release is specifically connected with a certain period or moment in which I was, you know, I was a certain person doing certain things. I've read somewhere that you cannot just sit in your room and in a week write a piece, you don't, you use music as kind of an exorcism of your feelings, and I wonder how does that happen? So, for example, if you are going through a certain feeling, a certain period of your life, and you try to express it, what is it like? Is it a prolonged month-long journey where you sample different sounds? Is it connected to the instruments? What's the process like, if you can describe? It's very difficult. It is, I don't know, there is some kind of alchemy, you know, there is some kind of magic that happens. Sometimes I just sit down and I play something and that something refers to something in my head, but I don't even know what it is specifically, you know, and maybe I find out later. I think there is some kind of, I don't know, there is some kind of magic that happens, you know, that is very difficult to describe, you know. The thing is like, sometimes, you know, you try to express something with words. For instance, poetry, right? Poets have, Byron, or, you know, many others, Gideon Thomas, T.S. Eliot, like, people that I love, they have the power to be able to express certain things with words, right? And that they're basically fulfilling that specific emotion, combining words together. That's their magic gift, you know. And I do not possess that, but I found out that if I play some notes in a certain way, they trigger some kind of emotion to me, personally, you know. And I'm, you know, I'm also flattered and happy that they trigger some kind of emotion also in the audience, and in other people, but it's very much difficult to explain it with words, you know. And that's also why, after all, I have decided to move on with music, you know, because you don't need words to express certain things. I don't remember who exactly said that talking about music is like dancing about architecture, you know. It's impossible to describe music in words. You have to feel it, you have to listen it. How do you think your music evolved over time? Was there a change from eight years ago of what you were creating? Has anything changed for you? I mean, you mean on a technical level? I think, like, people who are interested in music are... There are people who are interested, you know, on the technical side. Of course, I think also with your inner eye, with your vision, it's like maybe you've noticed some changes in you, like in comparison to yourself from ten years ago. It's a double question. When I started to make piano compositions, I had no expectation whatsoever. I had no knowledge of the world of contemporary music, you know. Like, I didn't know what was going on out there, you know. I wasn't aware much. It was just a spontaneous act of... It was just like, you know, I was just sitting there and just recording these pieces without expectation, without even thinking about releasing them or making an album. And then the whole thing started and then I started to think about... And then the turning point for me, personally, was when I recorded... When I did Bite the Deep Sea, so the album you're referring to. Because with the first record, the album, The Blue Hour, I was more like trying to describe specific things outside of myself. So explore a certain concept, you know. So in a way I was, you can call it, I was hiding behind a concept and describing that with music. As a painter would paint a field or a person. While when I did the Bite the Deep Sea, I realized all that process led me to understand that I needed music to exercise and to process my own life and my own feelings. That was changed for me. That was a big change. Because there I realized that it was okay and I was confident enough to be able to put myself more, my feelings, my way more into the music rather than hiding, rather than just doing a concept album, right? That was the turning point if I had to describe it rationally. And along the way there was also a technical development. So at the beginning I only had like a very small antique tape recorder, German tape recorder to record the whole first album with. And a two-input small sound card and a PC, laptop. And not much, not many years at all I was just me in a living room doing that. And then, you know, moving on I learned many things. I learned skills about mixing. I learned that I needed a certain microphone, that I needed a certain piece of gear to do a certain thing. So let's say that it was a process that led me to be more aware of what I was doing. It's very difficult to describe the process of the emotional and evolution inside in words. But that's one of the most interesting sides of the artist. So that's why I wanted to focus this interview on kind of inspirations. And you said you mentioned the Sex Pistols, Nirvana, when you were growing up as a teenager. Who replaced Sex Pistols and Nirvana today? Are there other artists? No one can replace that. It's what stays in our childhood, kind of. It stays there. I have children now as well, you know. And we make playlists together. And I'm happy to have them listen to that kind of music, you know. Because, I mean, at the end it was my history, you know. It was just, you know, the most important thing, the thing that I'm fascinated about this kind of band, like, you know, television, Sex Pistols as well, or others, it was the attitude they put into things, you know. It wasn't about the music so much itself, or, you know, the environment, the punk rock, the drugs, the, you know, the being, the being, you know, over the top of everything, you know. It was just the attitude. I think it's important to keep that, because it keeps the music extremely spontaneous eventually, you know. So that's what I'm trying to sort of transcribe and translate also into the world of modern classical music, you know, trying that to be, to also have that, I'm not saying rock and roll, but I'm sort of that kind of more let go sort of attitude, you know. Not to, not keep it, not take yourself too seriously, you know. Just try to do your thing, your way, without being pretentious, you know. I think they, without even knowing these people back in the day, they really teach a lot in the musical world, I believe. I wanted to ask you about the modern classical music as a term, but you mentioned about, that you're a parent right now, and you mentioned that your mom thought that it would be important for you to be in music, and how did that shape your attitude to, kind of, to parenting? Do you, you were kind of lucky, your mom thought that you'll be good at music, and you discovered that, yes, music is your form of expression. What about when it comes to you as a parent? How do you want, kind of, help your own kids to discover their artistic expression, their way of looking at the world? Yeah, yeah, partly, yeah. I mean, you know, it's difficult. Of course, I will try to do my best to, you know, to lead my kids to be in the right path, you know, and, you know, I know the musical world, so I'm going to help them understand that, for sure. But then, in the end, they will be deciding what they want to do, you know, and I just have to be there to support them somehow. I do believe, you know, like my mom used to believe, that music is, classical music especially, okay, at the beginning, and studying an instrument, it's very important. It's very important because I believe it gives you a method, a system, you know, and that's what I think it's good for a child to grow up with, you know. And it's also beautiful, you know. Being able, as a kid, to play piano is a beautiful thing. I will support them, you know, whatever they want to go, whatever they want to do, you know. Every form of expression, eventually, it's important, because, I mean, you don't even know it, but, again, it helps you to exercise and process your life, somehow. It's interesting because, like, my parents also, when I was growing up, they focused on classical music, and I was playing violin for a while, but, like, it wasn't my form of expression in contrast to you. But I'm still thankful that my taste in music was shaped by the fact that I was first introduced to classical music, and then I also was, kind of, I was growing up in the 90s and early 90s. It resonates a lot with you. And, as I said, like, I would like to ask you about modern classical music. I interviewed Martin Kolstad a couple of months ago. Very nice chap. Yeah, he's an excellent musician and an excellent person. And I asked him the same question, kind of, about modern classical music, and I wanted to hear it from you, because, although you are in the same category, your music is very different, but they are both labeled as modern classical music. How would you describe what is modern classical music? You know, when something goes out in the market, it has to be classified somehow, right? This is like, this is the market law, you know. You have to label it in a way, you know. And I, you know, I don't mind it, you know. Like, I don't, I'm not there to judge whether they call it neoclassic, modern classic, instrumental, 20th, 21st century music, you know. It's all good to me, honestly, you know. I'm not there for, to decide this kind of thing, and to define this kind of thing, first of all, you know. Like, I just write music, and to me, it's instrumental, you know, post-classical music, in the sense that, you know, it is triggered, and from an instrument that is universally considered as a classical instrument, so the piano. But the music itself doesn't have much of classical to me, if you ask me, in terms of, like, the way it's composed. It's way similar to pop music than to classical, you know. But it is, you know, the term that's been coined, modern classic, neoclassic, and so on, it defines the fact that you are a man or a woman sitting on a piano, doing music with it, you know. So I think it defines that. I know that it's not classical, what I do. I'm not a classically trained pianist. There are classically trained pianists out there. They can, and we're very lucky to have them, because then we can have them play Chopin, and we can hear, you know, Bach, and very, very complex piano composition made a very long time ago, that otherwise we wouldn't be able to hear if there was not these people. So this is the classical, core classical and classical pianist. I'm not a classical pianist. I'm just a musician that ended up playing piano and composing. It is kind of interesting how those labels are created from the perspective of other people, but like from the perspective of the musicians, it's a bit different. Yeah, I mean, it's different only because, I mean, it is obvious that like the streaming platform and all that that is happening nowadays with this type of piano music, it's very difficult to understand. It's a big box that is quite unclear. But yeah, I repeat, in the end, it's the market that decides and labels things. Unfortunately, it's the way it is. There's no reason to disagree or agree with it. It's just like that. Before we continue to the part where Federico will tell about working with Dara and their new EP, I would like to tell you that a part of this interview will be available in a video format on my YouTube channel, which you can subscribe to by following the link in the description of this episode. I would also like to say that I've added all the tracks from Federico's EP to my classical playlist on Spotify, which you can also find in the description. I would like to thank you all for all your support and for listening to Artidote Podcast. And let's continue with the rest of the interview. I've read in one of your interviews, I think from 2018, you said that you wanted to compose music for films and one of your latest releases. Before we go to the EP that is coming out soon, I wanted to ask you about what was it like to compose for a film, especially that you said that you always wanted to. Was the process any different? Well, yeah, very, very, very different. Writing for a movie, it's a very different thing. First of all, because you pledge for someone else's idea, so not for your own idea. The input is coming from somewhere outside. It's not coming from you. It can be amazing, because you have an external topic that you did not know about at all, and then maybe you get interested in it and you are able to experiment into that world that you didn't know. It's a very interesting feeling. That's the main difference, basically. You are trying to elevate somebody else's work and not your own thing. And you have to be very discreet. Music in movies is a complicated matter, because you don't want to overdo. Sometimes there are films out there that have no music at all, and it was a choice not to, and it was a brave choice, but also silence is musical in a way. It triggers some kind of emotion. So it's a very different process overall. It's equally interesting. Making a movie, if it's an interesting film, it's a good film, it's an interesting topic that you can pledge yourself into as an artist, then I think it's a great thing to do. It's powerful. How did you decide to get involved in creating a soundtrack to that film? Was it because you found it interesting as well? And why do you have... And the second question is, why is this passion for film music particularly? You're referring to The Twelve, right? Yes. I was particularly intrigued by the story of the Twelve Elders, and I was imagining really... I really digged into it. Even musically, I tried to compose themes for each one of these Twelve Elders and tried to describe them with music. It was a very, very beautiful process. So I was doing also research, for instance, on what kind of instrument that comes from Botswana, where these Two Elders are coming from, and what kind of music do they play there, what kind of tribal music do they have, and all that kind of stuff. So it was a lot of research as well, which was beautiful. So you write, basically, there is a visual story and then there is a musical story. So my aim was to try to write, compose a musical journey, a musical story as well. That you can listen and you can imagine these people. About the second question, in general, I love film. It's always been a big passion of mine. I love movies, and I love soundtracks, and always have, my entire life. So, yeah. Matching these two words for me, it's like one of my greatest passions, two of my greatest passions coming together, music and cinema. So if there is a way that I can put them together, to me, it's the best that can happen. Favourite directors, or maybe perhaps favourite films? Well, the list is too long. It's difficult to say, to tell you now, what is my best, the best movie I have seen. There's too many, there's really too many. Do you have favourite directors? Perhaps it's a bit easier question, because director is much broader, you know, like it's hard to pinpoint a single favourite book, you know, like it's hard to say, there are so many. Yes, yes. Okay, let's say directors, then I will go from the Italians, so definitely Federico Fellini, Lucino Visconti, and Pier Paolo Pasolini for sure. And then I will move to the US, going to Stanley Kubrick for sure. And more recently Terence Malick, especially the first film he did, like the scene, Red Line, and the Garden of Heaven. Michael Cimino, fantastic. The Deer Hunter, one of the best, maybe that's one of the best films ever made. Then moving through the years, Kim Ki-duck for sure. No, more Park Chan-ok, Park Chan-uk, Kim Ki-duck I would say, the South Koreans. At the moment, this is what's coming to my mind. I recently watched, I'm watching a lot of movies about this new Greek guy called Giorgos Lantimos, and he has recently a film called The Lobster, which I found very, very, very good. And also The Favourite, which is his latest one, which is also very, very useful. Are favourite films correlated with the favourite soundtracks, or it's completely two separate things, like you might like the soundtrack to the film and not particularly like the film itself? No, that's difficult. No, I wouldn't. I think that it's connected with it, like a good movie with a bad soundtrack doesn't really exist, and vice versa. A bad movie with a good soundtrack as well, it's impossible. It's like having a bad actor in the film. The film won't work if it's a bad actor, right? And the music is the same, it's part of the theme, it's part of the whole structure of a project. So all the directors that I've mentioned, they have beautiful soundtracks. I mean, sometimes there are amazing, amazing soundtracks, and it's a good film, right? And sometimes it is, but it's very rare. Usually when there's a great soundtrack, it's also a great film. That's an excellent comparison. That's an excellent comparison. A very good film with a good scenario, a good soundtrack, but with bad actors, cannot be a good film. Exactly. I mean, take Apocalypse Now, an extraordinary movie, an extraordinary soundtrack. Take Marlon Brando out of the game, it ain't going to be the same thing, right? I would like to talk about the upcoming release. I know that it is inspired by Virginia Woolf. Could you please tell a little bit, an overview of what is this new EP going to be like? What is it about? Well, first of all, this is a collaboration EP, so it's me with a singer-songwriter from Germany-Norway-Ireland, called Tara Nomsoy. It's four songs that we wrote together, basically. I wrote the music, and then she wrote the lyric and the melody on top of the vocal part. It all started in January this year when I received a call asking whether I was interested in making a song with her. Just one song. I said, yes, why not? I happened to have one piece there that was part of the recording session for my new album, which will be released next year. But I left it out from the final songs because I felt it wasn't resolving, it wasn't going anywhere. So I thought I'd send Tara this song and see what she does. And she turned it into something magnificent. It's the first piece, Too Lost to Be Found, which is already out. So I was literally blown away. I remember when I... I sent the song, and after a couple of hours she sent it back to me with a demo that she just did on the phone or something. Very rough. I thought it was incredible. So we produced the piece, we finished it, we mixed it and everything, and then I thought to myself, we should do more. So we started to get together, hang out in the studio, brainstorm, what can we do. And I had another song, and I wrote another piece of music, and I sent it to her. It was this ongoing process. And then we came to the conclusion that we might have enough material to make an EP together. And then we started to think about what do we want to communicate with this. And we found this conclusion that... I suggested Tara to read a series of books of Virginia Woolf, because I thought that she... Because Virginia Woolf has this series which is called The Moment of Being, which are... It's a very interesting subject that is about... that sometimes there are specific moments in life where we're not able to live them properly. And so we must find a way to kind of hold this moment in time to be able to enjoy them even more maybe in the future, or to take them as reference for future experiences. And that's what we came across. And it was exactly like that. It was a super spontaneous collaboration. We never had to force each other to do anything. And we just wanted to keep these moments we spent together writing this music, keep them in time, keep them forever. And that's why it's called The Moment We Keep, because these four songs are the moments that Tara and I are keeping of this time that we have worked together. Throughout this interview, there are several words that come up all the time. It's spontaneity that is very important and moments that you kind of try to capture the time and overall theme is kind of poetry of the world. And your inspirations, it's all revolving around those kind of three words. And that's what I found, personally find in your music, very inspiring person to me. You know, there is these underlying patterns of musical poetry in it. And what was it like during this really difficult and strange times for you as a musician? How did you cope with pandemic? How did it affect you in general and in music as well? It was very strange. It was absurd. I mean, it was obviously like, yeah, it was absurd. You know, on a personal level, I was shocked creatively as well, the beginning of it. And I was not able to write music or do anything that was artistic at all. Because I was feeling that, it was wrongfully probably, wrongfully, but I was feeling that the last thing of work needed at that point was somebody writing music. So I had a very big creative drop, so to say. But then, you know, I was writing, I was in the process also writing my new album, which will be released next year. My new record will be rolling around the concept of memory. But then this pandemic happened and everything stopped somehow. I didn't know anymore what I was doing, what I wanted to do. And also, I mean, it was challenging for me as a parent and for us as a family to get through this, you know, when you have two small children. It was a challenge on many, many, many levels. Like in life, in work, in, you know, in the creative process, everything was jeopardized. But then after a certain point, I sort of like realized that what I was working on, this idea that I was having before this whole pandemic happened, to try to take memories and hold them in time and keep them in bed was even more important now, somehow. It became even more important because of this pandemic, because of what happened, because of our life being changed so much. And that gave me a big, you know, I kind of like went back into writing and composing and I had so much inspiration and so much creative power. And I started writing so much music. And, you know, I had a really huge collapsing fall and then I went back up, basically, naturally. And it was a very strange feeling, but also made me realize a lot of things. That's really interesting because you say that you express your feelings through music and I was interested, how did you express your feelings when such a strange thing as a pandemic happens? You know, and I wondered, as an artist, you know, who expresses the feelings, how does it affect you? It was very strange. And I had a lot of talks with my friends, musicians, everybody that I know had more or less this feeling of like, what am I doing now? You know, like, why would I go on to what I do? It felt so unnecessary. The art, the music in general. But then it turned back to be extremely necessary. You know, even more now, because, you know, I realize even more now how music, how art is important, especially in the moments like this. In terms of hope? In terms of hope, it can guide people, it can, you know, any form of art is an expression of a certain moment in time and a certain emotion and feelings, you know. So it's a way to exercise, as an artist and as audience. Same thing. So it's important that all of us that have this goal in life to make art, that have made this choice to be artists, in a way, we have the duty to try to create beauty, you know, and to try to see beauty and craft it as much as we can, you know, for other people to enjoy. Even more in times like this. And it is different. It's one thing when art gives you hope and strength and another thing when certain types of art just act as a distraction, you know, from reality. Do you think, like, there is this balance between making people forget what's happening in contrast to giving them hope via art? Do you think it is always a combination of those two or do you think those two things are always separate? No, I think you're right. It's a combination of the two, you know. Like music, it's also like a way to escape reality, of course. And I do pledge for that. I mean, I do use it sometimes, I mean, as well, when you cannot sleep or when you just want to fade away for a moment and you put a particular record on to travel a little bit for a while. But it's a combination of the both. I mean, at the same time, okay, yes, it can distract you, but it can also give meaning to that specific moment by even distracting you, you know. How did the live music, live concerts affect you? You are in Berlin right now. And what's the situation like? Any plans for live concerts? Is it important for you? Well, it is essential, not important. It's the fuel that makes me wake up in the morning and go back to sleep at night. I mean, live music, for me, I've been growing up, I grew up as a touring artist. So I've been touring pretty much non-stop for years and years, you know, like on and off, obviously. But touring was always playing shows and engage with the audience was always one of my priorities in my artistic path. And the fact that it's not there anymore at the moment is a big struggle. But, you know, I'm hopeful and I think that things will be, you know, shaping back to normal slowly. I would really like to see you live. I was very lucky to see, as we mentioned, Martin Goldstedt, right before the pandemic started. So I was very lucky. So I would really like to see you live. I'm in London. But hopefully, like if it is in Berlin, I hope I would really love to visit Berlin and see you live. We talked a lot about the inspirations and you mentioned music, you mentioned films. I would like to ask you about books. What are you currently reading? What are the books that surprised you, impressed you recently? Well, I'm reading, I mean, I actually mainly read poetry. Because it really is something that helps me relax. And at the moment I'm reading an American contemporary poet called John Ashbery, which is, I mean, there is a big collection of poems. And I think it's extraordinary. I think everybody should read this guy. And so at the moment I'm reading him, and specifically this series of books and of like, you know, poems together, wrapped up in a collection. What exactly interests you? What themes are attracting you to? I believe, I mean, my personal opinion is that he is like the natural consequence of like the big generation, you know. So, which is like all people and artists, of course, that I admire and love. And he is the natural consequence. Like, you know, like the XTC are the natural sons of the Beatles, you know. Like he is the consequence of what was happening before. And that's all very interesting in the first place. But then also the way he describes reality, the way he put himself into it, the way he's cynical, but not too cynical, but very, very incredible vocabulary, which is also something that's stunning for me as a non-English mother language speaker. I always like to try to find something challenging to read, you know. And I find that poetry to be extraordinary in that field as well, because you will learn so many words you didn't know before, you know. So it's like, you know, poetry, like John Ashbery, now this collection is a pretty big book. It's accompanying me since months now, and I'm always reading and taking inspiration also for song titles. Or, you know, there's an idea behind the song that I cannot find the word. And sometimes there are words there that are more powerful and I can engage with that or that I can connect with. As a non-native English speaker, I can relate that, you know, learning new words through poetry is fascinating. And I assume Virginia Woolf would be, let's say, second book out of three that you would kind of recommend. Yes, absolutely. Especially The Light Out. You know, and all the moments of being serious, definitely, you know, Virginia Woolf is extraordinary. The light she has and the way she, you know, expresses reality and struggles is quite an example. Thank you so much, Federico. I had so many questions to you. Don't worry. And your EP with Tara comes out July. I think the date was... The second of July. There will be the first song, the fourth song, along with the whole EP release. And on the 11th of June, so next Friday, we're going to have the third single, which is called Waiting to the Riverside. Cannot wait to listen to it. I'm really looking forward to it. Once again, thank you, Federico, and all the good luck with the future concerts and the album that you are working on. Thank you very much, my friend. And if everything goes back to normal, I'll be for sure playing a show in London next year, and you'll be certainly my guest. I hope you enjoyed listening to this interview. Federico's and Tara's new EP, The Moments We Keep, is available on all streaming platforms. I'll add a link to the Spotify in the description of this episode. I would like to thank Federico's team and Federico himself for their time and coming to Artidote Podcast, and I would like to thank Ilya Rogachevsky, who mastered this episode. I'm Vashek Armenikos, the host of Artidote Podcast, and I'll see you in the next episode. Artidote Podcast