Paletti - Pop Metamorphosis

I decided to experiment with a different way, for me, of writing the album's songs. If before I'd start from a chord progression on guitar, this time I varied a lot from track to track. Some started from a drum rhythm, others from a synth, others still from the vocal line in fake English.

With the new album you continue your singer-songwriter approach steeped in electronic textures: can you tell us how the songs came about, and how they were then produced and arranged?

All the songs answered the urgent need to truly express what I was feeling. For me it was a period packed with new developments and changes. I had to adapt quickly. Talking about these things in the songs helped me understand myself better and face it all with more clarity. I wrote everything straight off on the computer, often arranging the ideas directly as I went. Once I'd finished the "advanced demo" I'd send it to my producer (Matteo Cantaluppi), who would then start working out how to shape a coherent, consistent sound for the record.

I think I've already answered that above, but on a deeper level I could say that the things that hit me and move me deeply are what become songs.

It comes from a real news story. An 18-year-old Romanian dies in a car accident involving another car carrying an Italian family. Two children die. Viviana Beccalossi, Lombardy's regional councillor for Territory, Urban Planning and Soil Protection, writes on her Facebook page: "I'm not sorry the drunk Romanian kid died." Under her post, a flood of supportive comments. Tests later show the boy was negative on every toxicology screen. This genuinely enraged me, and it still surprises me that there are people today capable of judging other human beings so superficially and treating them as inferior. 

It's a provocative critique of modern, frantic life, where legalized drugs like tranquilizers and anti-anxiety medication are used to unwind and relax. Personally, I'd rather roll a joint, which is definitely less harmful to me and to others.

Who knows. It definitely reminds me a bit of Battiato, whom I admire immensely. It's an odd solution in some ways, convenient in others.

It was a pleasant surprise, but one I was in a way hoping for deep down. You've got to be careful what you wish for in life. Heh heh. Right now I just want this record to be heard by as many people as possible, and above all, to be liked. For the future, I want to keep growing and never stay the same or stuck in the same place.

It takes a much more serious approach than in the past. You can't afford to show up late or miss deadlines. You have to be your own manager, always. Trashing a hotel room in 2014 just isn't an option. What would I do then, take out a mortgage to pay for it?