interview
The meeting with Giuliano was born thanks
to the suggestion of a friend, Stefano Antoci
D’Agostino. I was trying to help the artistic
production of my project. Stefano advised
me to listen to Giuliano Dottori. So did I.
Giuliano is for me one of the best songwriters of Italy. After the contact I met him,
I found out that he is also one of the best
producers that I could encounter. Musically
cultured and sensitive. He knows how to leave space and to bring the work forward.
Nico Turner was on tour with Cat Power
in Europe. They played in Lucca, where I live,
during the Summer Festival. The band was
staying in the hotel where I was working.
One night Cat Power and Nico came into
the kitchen asking: “Something good here?”.
We have become friends and we stayed in
touch. I asked Nico, who was in Milan du-
What is done is done. I’m very happy for the
praises that the lp is receiving, any value you
want to give to the term “praises”. We would
have liked to have the strings, woodwinds
and maybe more time to record vocals. But
for budget reasons we could not.
How was it born “Occhi asciutti” (“dry eyes”)?
On a summer night, on my way home after
work. A storm of wind and water, the swollen
river was passing the banks. I could not see
anything. Then the next morning, the song
of cicadas. We were undecided whether to
propose it as the first single instead of “Tema
del filo” or as a second single. We opted for a
more intimate first single.
How it was working with Dottori and Turner?
ring the recording of the lp,
to play drums in a couple of
songs. He accepted!
This is what I call a good
attitude. Mattia Pittella,
a close friend with whom
I shared my years
in Milan, he played drums.
Then “the Adonis”
Mauro Mr. Fox Samson
on percussions. At choirs
Neith Pincetti, friend
of Giuliano. Thank you
again! The album was mixed
by Matthew Cantaluppi
in Berlin. Another lucky
meeting. Professionally
impeccable and always
available.
the review
W
ith the name of a couple of US cities,
Portland is the first album by David
Ragghianti. Ragghianti takes cues from the
Italian and foreign songwriting to pack
nine tracks of various flavors, respectful of
traditions. With a melodic and rather classic song, I prati che cercavo, Ragghianti
opens his album: the step is moderate, but
the intensity of the song increases along
the trail, with some more regard to the
percussion part. We travel to the border
of fairy tales often, with the texts of Ragghianti, but in Amsterdam the sound is
quite concrete and rich. The lp, entitled
to a distant city, is accustomed to travel,
however, is confirmed by Dove conduci,
very soft and whispered, with acoustic
guitar in the middle of the scene, along
with the voice. There’s more bite, but without losing the temper, in Occhi asciutti,
which can remind flavors no strangers to
Italian songwriter Ivano Fossati. Full of
rhythm and sounds undercurrent Tema
del filo, while Se non ti ammali mai surprises with underwater sound effects,
reggae and a bit of irony. We return to
very soft and subtle mode with Pause
estive. 300 anni has meditative lyri cs,
and more meditations we find in Raffiche
di fuga. Firmly anchored to all the roots
of songwriting, Ragghianti constructs a
record that shines the most in minute details. But the very fact that he has taken care
of them says much of his writing skills.
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