Giorgieness - Chills and Bruises

One of this season's standout new acts on the Italian scene is undoubtedly Giorgieness, a Milan-based outfit fronted by the charismatic Giorgie D'Eraclea. After three singles released last year, this spring finally brings the release of their debut album "The Right Distance" (Woodworm). We took the opportunity to ask Giorgie a few questions.

When I first listened to the songs, my immediate impression was of a very feisty artist, capable of saying exactly what she thinks without mincing words (which is one of the most glaring, long-standing limitations of Italian singer-songwriter tradition). Let's get straight to it: how does one of your songs come about? From an idea, a theme, a situation... or does the music come first?

The music and lyrics are often born together, though almost always what ends up happening is that I keep only the vocal line while everything else changes. Generally, I spend a certain period absorbing a bunch of experiences, faces, situations and feelings - periods in which I rarely write songs - and then there's a moment when it all naturally just comes out. Other times an idea comes to me fully formed, of what I want to say, and I try to pare down my thoughts until they become the lyrics of the song.

Among other things, even on a purely musical level, the more properly "rock" passages are still functional to a melodic side that doesn't try to please but still comes across as effective and direct. Since this is the first time we've talked about you, can you tell us which artists influenced you most and shaped what you grew up listening to? And at what age did you decide to become a musician?

Well, there wasn't really a moment when I thought "I'm going to be a musician", in the sense that at a certain point I just realized it was the thing I wanted to do. The only thing I wanted to do, with all of myself. As a kid I wanted to do musicals! Or be an actress. Or a butcher. I started with bands, like almost everyone, around fourteen or fifteen, I had an all-female punk band called Wrong Choice. I wrote in English and we were inspired by Distillers, Rancid, Pennywise, Devotchka, Social Distortion. I think that kind of sound, which managed to combine melody with anger, left a huge mark on me. That said, I've had a guitar in my hands since I was very small, writing songs and listening to whatever was around the house. So from my dad I got the big classics (Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, Oasis, King Crimson, Nick Drake...) and from my mom the singer-songwriters and Smiths. On top of that, add a bit of late-90s/early-2000s American pop culture, from Destiny's Child to Evanescence to Eminem. That kind of stuff.

Around nineteen, I got into recent Italian rock, which was definitely key in my shift from English to my native language, and around the same time I discovered immense artists like Nick Cave, Bjork, James Blake, Radiohead, PJ Harvey. I really do listen to a huge amount of different music, and then I try to blend it all together and put it out in the most personal way possible.

"The Right Distance" was heavily previewed by three singles released last year. One might think the recording process was very long and that nothing was left to chance. Can you tell us about your first time in the studio, and how the songs were shaped into their final versions?

Actually the recordings didn't even take that long, about a month and a half. But certainly, throughout the whole period of the singles, we worked incredibly hard to figure out what we actually wanted to do and how. Luca (drummer) joined us last, about a year ago now, and we spent a lot of time in the rehearsal room getting to know each other and building a chemistry that, thankfully, did come together, and I think it shows in our live shows too. Once that was in place, working on the songs came fairly naturally, at least in terms of nailing down the idea, and then me and Davide (producer, guitarist), but also Andrea Fognini (studio assistant and our sound engineer), took the time to find the right sounds and worlds for each song. Chance plays its part, because a lot of things could have turned out differently, we did two thousand takes, but at a certain point we'd always look at each other and say: "cool. Let's keep it like this".

It wasn't easy for me, being a bit of a control freak and used to trusting only myself, to work with an actual production. I have to say Davide was really committed to bringing out what I had inside, often suggesting solutions I would never have thought of myself, due to certain limitations that are honestly normal for my age and experience. And he was very patient, because before accepting any change I'd usually have to rant for a few hours first. At the same time, it was crucial to have Andrea (bass) with me, who's been putting up with me and taking me around to play shows for years now. I learned a lot during this year at Edac Studio.

Earlier we mentioned the rather "raw" and direct side of some of your songs, but the album actually offers a stylistically varied tracklist: I'm thinking, for instance, of the electro-acoustic ballad "Che strano rumore" or the smoother, in some ways even more intimate approach of "Lampadari". Can you tell us more about these two songs?

They're two songs written in very different periods, by someone who's growing and constantly searching, for something not entirely clear. Maybe, quite simply, for a shameless kind of happiness. "Che strano rumore" is a very different track from the others, I put into it some things that happened to me over the last year, which wasn't the rosiest of my life. It's about feeling everything or feeling nothing, as if the sky were falling and, after an initial moment of sheer panic, you just couldn't feel emotions anymore. You know what's happening, you come to terms with it and watch everyone else scrambling around, and you smile a little. Really sad, I know. Key to this song was "Melancholia" by Lars Von Trier, I watched the opening scene with the mother, the bride and the child on loop for half a day.

"Lampadari", on the other hand, had a long gestation, it was already on the first EP in a much more acoustic version. Now it's become very dark, much more obsessive, with these siren-like choruses. Since it's a song about very long nights, I think it's found the right clothes to wear. Both songs capture specific moments, but in this latter case it's more like the chronicle of something happening to you that you're watching from the outside, as a spectator.

Looking around you, how do you rate the current Italian scene? Both in terms of bands and venues, opportunities, specialized press, and so on...

I don't know, I don't think it's going that badly, is it? I mean, in the end everyone talks a lot of trash about the "scene", but it seems to me a lot of great artists and great records are coming out. And also that there are more and more outfits working really well, who really believe in it and offer interesting opportunities to both musicians and audiences. If I have to choose how to look at it, in this case, I choose to see the glass as half full. There are plenty of difficulties and plenty of bad things too, but almost everyone with real talent who's put in the work, who's given it everything, that I've met over the years, has managed to make it show. Maybe you don't get rich, but people want to listen to music, go to shows and play. Like in any field, there's good and bad, there are those who make it on merit and those who make it because they're friends with someone. But in the end, all you can do is keep going honestly and not let it eat you up too much.

You've already played with a lot of "sacred monsters" in recent years, but if you could share a stage with one artist or band (Italian or foreign) of your choice... who would it be?

If I have to dream, I'll dream big, and I think of PJ Harvey!  

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