Sara Battaglini - "VERNAL LOVE" (AUAND AU6013) OUT NOW

Vernal Love is Italian singer and songwriter Sara Battaglini’s new project

A cross-cutting album, Vernal Love features six italian musicians (all from Tuscany) in a delicate electronic and acoustic sound fabric. Each composition, in an intimate yet dense mood, is suspended between lightness and bitterness, between what can be seen as dreamy and illogical in human vulnerability. 

Focused on the idea of absence – not only as distance or lack of something, but also as a status, like “home” – it’s a vision of life inside and outside the bubble that keeps us both safe and in chains. It’s where we reach the farthest point from what surrounds us, and the deepest sensibility towards ourselves.

It’s a place where we all know and identify the bizarre and conflicting aspects of ourselves, where we taste the uncanny silence of perfection that makes every shade bright. It’s a hymn to balance, to love and hate, to bitterness and sweetness.

We spend our entire life hiding from a reality that we constantly try to reach. Again and again, we get out and then back in this haven that embraces us and wears us out, with no logic or distinction. We’re scared when we feel vulnerable, we’re scared when we feel free. It’s two levels, one in and one out, one above and one below. A border area where you can’t go either up or down – there’s only silence, made up of the screams that we forget.

Tracks and lyrics simply narrate points of view, different yet indivisible. With variable shapes, these seven dialogues describe total and pure love that knows how to give, but also how to take.

After releasing her debut album (Dalia) with her trio, and collaborating in such projects as Auanders’ Text(us), Sara Battaglini writes and arranges her new album for an extended lineup: the rhythm section includes Simone Graziano, Francesco Ponticelli, and Bernardo Guerra, while Beppe Scardino is on baritone sax and bass clarinet, and Jacopo Fagioli is on trumpet and flugelhorn.

With an eye on a captivating, layered sound that reveals electronic and acoustic elements, the entire album soundscape has been developed and carefully crafted in collaboration with Francesco Ponticelli.

1 Siren

2 Love Affair On The Moon

3 Birdcage

4 White

5 Am I Hysterical?

6 Dialogue

7 Eerie Day, For You

Sara Battaglini - vocals

Simone Graziano - piano, synth

Francesco Ponticelli - bass

Bernardo Guerra - drums

Beppe Scardino - baritone sax, bass clarinet

Jacopo Fagioli - trumpet, flugelhorn

Federico Pierantoni - trombone

recorded in October 2020 at Cicaleto (Arezzo) by Stefano Bechini

mixed by Francesco Ponticelli at Cicaleto (Arezzo)

mastered by Tommy Bianchi

produced by Francesco Ponticelli and Sara Battaglini

executive producer: Marco Valente

cover photo by Niccolò Chimenti

artwork and design by Vieri Cervelli Montel

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Simone Graziano - Embracing The Future (June 2021 Auand Records)

Embracing The Future was supposed to be a different album. After three days in the studio with a beautiful Steinway & Sons, and after recording around two hours of solo music, Simone Graziano had a bizarre idea when going back home – he opened the piano cover, threw his mobile phone in, pressed Rec, and closed everything. It was the first day of the second Italian lockdown. The recorded sound reminded me of something like a piano with a gothic church echo, which intensified the final part of the sound, almost cutting off the attack. He immediately fell in love with it. There was no other sound he wanted to listen to.

This is why Embracing the future has a special sound – an emotional one. All tracks are originals – except for Billie Eilish “When The Party’s Over” – and refer to different genres: electronic, classical, and improvised music.

Simone Graziano recalls: “I’ve spent around 36 years with an instrument that always had the same sound. I could try a different model or size, or be in a different room, but the sound was always the same, more or less. Knowing exactly what was under my fingers and what reaction my playing could generate allowed me to feel calm, it was like an unchanging sense of safety – pianos, no matter the type, will always sound like that.

That uncanny sound, so different from everything I’ve ever heard before, pushed me to delve deeper, and go beyond the black and white fence of my keyboard. I started to put almost everything on the piano strings – cigarette filters, erasers, toilet paper rolls entirely decorated by my daughter. What still drives me crazy is that sense of uncertainty you feel when a sound that you considered unalterable actually changes completely by simply adding an object on it.

This sense of uncertainty reflects what I feel today about our new normal – we are forced to rethink everything we took for granted. By reflecting on our conditions, we discover new ways of connecting with the world, just like by putting a cigarette filter inside my piano I discover a new way of thinking that big black piece of furniture. I’ve posted most of my experiments to my Instagram account (hashtag #fragmentadallockdown) on a daily basis for almost two months”.

Embracing the future has been entirely home-recorded by Simone Graziano on his Yamaha C3 piano, which has been 100% modified to enhance its darkest timber. Another remarkable decision is related to the recording tools: two “omni” mics placed inside the keyboard, almost touching the hammers. As an effect, the listeners feel like their head is inside the instrument, perceiving every detail, from releasing the key, to the phalanx touching the keyboard, to the creak of the piano bench, to the sound of the pedal being pressed.

The entire work has been skillfully mixed by Francesco Ponticelli at Cicaleto Recording Studio and mastered by Stefano Bechini. Embracing The Future is Simone Graziano first piano solo album, as well as his seventh as a leader, after the Frontal quintet trilogy (Frontal, Trentacinque, Sexuality), two trio albums (Lightwalls, Snailspace), and one sextet album with Purple Whales. 

1. When The Party's Over 04:31

2. Damn Spring 02:47

3. Dora Et Les Adieux 02:54

4. Embracing The Future 01:59

5. Tancredi 02:17

6. Nihilo 03:10

7. We Will Hug Again 04:19

8. Always Whispering 03:49

9. Brahms Tears 06:15

10. Stars Behind Me 02:33

Simone Graziano - piano

All songs by Simone Graziano (published by Jazz Engine ed. mus.) except #1 by Finneas O'Connell

Recorded at Casa Graziano on October 2020 – February 2021 by Simone Graziano

Mixed at Cicaleto Recording Studio, Arezzo, Italy on March 2021 by Francesco Ponticelli

Mastered at Green Brain, Piancastagnaio (SI), Italy on April 2021 by Stefano Bechini

produced by Simone Graziano & Marco Valente

executive producer: Marco Valente

cover and inner photos by Caterina Di Perri

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Michele Tino - Belle Époque (June 2021 Auand Records)

Belle Époque is Michele Tino's debut album, out on Auand on June 4th.

A sax player born and raised in Italy, Michele Tino comes to his first work as leader after learning the ropes with such names as Camilla Battaglia, Michelangelo Scandroglio, Alessandro Lanzoni, The Auanders, Purple Whales and Federica Colangelo “Acquaphonica”.

The tracklist, entirely penned by Tino, covers a wide timeframe as well as very different styles, influences, and moods, by merging traditional and contemporary approach. A compelling lyricism pervades every track, playing with balanced dynamics and sense of proportion.

Michele Tino formed his quartet in 2018, when he got back to Florence after finishing his studies in Amsterdam.

It still features Simone Graziano (piano, Fender Rhodes, and synth), Gabriele Evangelista (double bass), and Bernardo Guerra (drums). They met and started collaborating a long time ago, and it felt natural for him to have them in his first band as a leader. This allowed them to add a deeper understanding to their already strong relationship.

Rehearsed and played live for a long time, each composition had been carefully shaped until it fits the whole album idea of density. Last but not least, Francesco Ponticelli’s contribution was precious, as much as his Cicaleto studio where the album was recorded.

1 Truth

2 Between Hands

3 Gringo

4 L'idiota

5 Chiasma

6 Ara Pacis

7 Shark's Genocide

8 Her Choice

Michele Tino - alto and tenor saxophone

Simone Graziano - piano, Fender Rhodes, synths

Gabriele Evangelista - double bass

Bernardo Guerra - drums

Recorded at Cicaleto (Arezzo) on November 6-8, 2020 by Francesco Ponticelli

Mixed at Cicaleto (Arezzo) on December 2020 by Francesco Ponticelli

Mastered at GreenBrain on February 2021 by Stefano Bechini

produced by Michele Tino

executive producer: Marco Valente

cover photo by Maria Rosaria Santo and Guglielmo Tino

inner photos by Caterina Di Perri

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