Porto Raro - Inside the Border Zone

La iancura is the whiteness suspended on the horizon, when sea and sky blur together until they lose their outlines. It's an image of threshold, of dissolve, of fusion. The music of Porto Raro – the duo made up of Pantaleo Rizzo and Roberto Pinto – is set in this space; their sound inhabits the point where beginning and end become indistinguishable, where electronics melt into liquid, intimate, dreamlike melodies. In this border zone, Porto Raro build a language that escapes definition yet stays true to a primal emotion: that of standing before the sea, when everything feels close and far away at once.

How did your project come about?

It came about, as often happens, almost by chance. We've known each other for years, since our high school days, and we'd already shared some musical experiences together; we lost touch, and reconnected years later, during one of the periods of freedom from Covid lockdowns. Porto Raro was the answer to the question "Are you still writing music, or did you give it up?"; for us it was a necessity, a means of expression, born out of love for art and music, with no ambitions of a record deal. Maybe that's exactly why we managed to build a project completely free of compromise, one that allowed us total freedom of expression.

Is the EP "Zero" built around an idea, a sound, a mood?

"Zero" grows out of the idea that there's a meeting point, which we've called Porto Raro: a refuge where dualities merge, offering a glimmer of clarity for our everyday doubts, while at the same time giving rise to new ones. A loop between journey, departure, destination. Our musical paths, quite distinct from one another, merged together. The real challenge was finding a balance between two clear-cut and often very different identities.

In "Zero" you explore a lot of different sounds, all perfectly held together by an electronic backdrop. Is there a particular style you'd like to dig deeper into?

Our latest single already moves in a new direction compared to the EP, while still holding on to several sounds and elements that are now part of our identity.

The two of us write together, and finding common ground is often a long process, because between the two of us our listening runs from classical to metal. So, maybe rock and distortion — elements we're close to and fond of — are things we haven't explored as much as the rest... who knows, maybe that's an idea for the future!

Does the place where you're based, in your view, influence the music you make? And in what way?

Definitely, for better or worse. The truth is that "Zero" isn't just Cilento: there's Andalusia, Naples, Northern Europe, America — there are the places we've lived in and the people we've met.

Let's talk about the first EP, "Zero": what does this title refer to?

To the concept of a year zero, which doesn't exist in historical chronology, but refers to a dividing point before and after Christ. This Zero felt to us like the ideal time and space in which to place Porto Raro, which in our vision isn't a real place, even though it's the destination we're chasing. At the same time, it's the point from which every journey of ours starts over.

The track "This Is All Wrong" seems to explore everything and then turn it upside down — does it have a particular story behind it?

It was born out of tapping a Bic pen on the strings of a guitar! We sampled various percussive sounds from the guitar and, using an aleatoric compositional technique, we created two different percussion lines. The opening felt completely wrong to us, until we layered the two lines together and listened to the final result. And from there, it felt right to tackle a more general feeling, trying to answer one doubt: in the end, what's really right, and what's wrong?

Is there a track of yours that you feel particularly attached to, and why?

"Estrella En El Mar" is the track that kicked off our journey, as our first single and as the opening track of our first live show. It's also to thank for our First Overall Prize at the Nuovo Imaie. If we had to pick just one track to represent Porto Raro and the EP "Zero", it would without a doubt be this one.

Let's talk about your latest single, a romantic ballad that, again, starts out in a conventional way, with piano and vocals that are by turns raspy and tender, before converging into an electronic texture: what did you want to convey with it?

We tried to give a sound to the time and space in which we realize that summer is over, with everything summer can mean for each person, like the end of a love. Even today we find different layers of meaning in this song, and we admit that the writing process forced us to dig deep inside, to where the beginning is and where the end is. "The End Of Summer Days" is also the desire and strength to keep walking, to keep moving forward, even when, between the beginning and the end, it's easy to find yourself alone, without direction.

Tell us about the recording heard at the end of the track.

It's our personal tribute to Richard Russell, now known online as The Sky King, famous for stealing a plane from Seattle-Tacoma airport and flying it despite not having a pilot's license. During the flight, he had an intense radio conversation with air traffic controllers, which was recorded and later published online. What shocks us about this recording is the tone of Richard's voice, a calm and composure that contrast with his actions; he's a man who couldn't make it, who apologizes to the people who loved him and decides to end his journey in this world by fulfilling his biggest dream: flying a plane. In those exchanges we didn't read resignation, but the serenity that comes from an unusually lucid awareness.

In general, what is the prevailing feeling that guides your songwriting?

Certainly there's curiosity, which accompanies us like an unstable but faithful compass and which pushes us, every time, to rediscover, accompanied by a certain nostalgia, almost a feeling of being out of place. Not as a pose, but by nature. In this space we perceive the possibility of creating, of giving birth to new music.

Is there a contemporary artist you'd like to collaborate with?

In Italy, among many, it would be wonderful to write something with Daniela Pes, Andrea Laszlo De Simone, Alessandra Tumolillo, Iosonouncane, incredible artists we deeply admire.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google