Matteo Alieno interview withArci Bellezza of Milan before going on stage for Being in the worldthe album released in March and now brought into its live dimension.
An album that, listened to today, really seems like a very crooked and very human manual for trying to live. Inside there is love, friendship, anxiety, shame, the relationship with parents, the fear of not making it and that very generational feeling of doing something just to prove that you are doing something.
matteo alieno interview
When we ask him what's happening to the record now that it's out, the answer starts with amazement:
“It's the first record for which they write to me for the record and not maybe for a song”.
Matteo Alieno he says he felt, for the first time, truly listened to in the long form of the album. Something that cannot be taken for granted, especially today, when attention to an entire album seems almost like a luxury.
“I want to be understood. I make music for this reason. If someone understands me it's a wonderful thing.”
MATTEO ALIENO, BEING IN THE WORLD AND THE SHAME OF SAYING IT
Among the songs that have changed their meaning the most since their release is Who wins who winsa song that, before its publication, he didn't even want to release.
“It disgusted me. I called those who work with me and said: please, let's change the song.”
The reason wasn't just musical. Inside that song there was something much more uncomfortable: the fear of really exposing yourself.
“I say embarrassing things about myself. For example, I pretend to always have things to do, when in reality I'm ashamed that maybe I don't do anything.”
That very shame, however, became one of the most recognizable points of the album. Why Who wins who wins it started to work when someone on the other side recognized themselves in it.
“I'm happy to have made peace with one of my songs thanks to others. I hated it, I thought it was bullshit. Now when I play it I feel that I like it because others like it. It's an honest thing.”
THE RECORD BORN BETWEEN ROME AND LONDON
Being in the world it doesn't come from songs left in the drawer. Or at least, it doesn't come from there in its truest part.
“I came from a path in which I was a bit lost compared to what I wanted to do in life. Many songs were born thanks to this spark.”
The record was worked on London together with Luca Carusoproducer who for Matteo Alieno it also had a decisive role on a musical level.
Going back and forth to London several times allowed him to listen to the songs from a distance, almost from the outside.
“When I came back I had time to think about the songs I had recorded. I myself listened to them in a different way, sometimes less involved.”
London, however, also gave him something else: a different discipline.
“I'm a real Roman: a fixed academic quarter of an hour late, breaks, chatting, coffee, cigarettes. There, however, it's really work. You have to be ready.”
For Matteo Alieno music also works like this: like a less immediate, but more precise photograph.
“One day, if I'm old, instead of leafing through photos I'll be able to say: this is my trip to London, listen.”
PEOPLE, RADIOHEAD AND THE DARKEST PART OF THE RECORD
Among the songs that most move the sound of the album is Peoplea darker, almost dystopian song, which also looks at the imagination of the Radiohead.
“They talk very well about opulent cities, the aseptic world we live in, social isolation. I wanted to write a song that talked about that and my body took me there.”
It's one of the most anguished tracks on the record. Not a random deviation, but a necessary part of that uncertain way of being in the world.
“The album talks about this crazy world that I don't know how to live in. I often say: whatever the fuck, let's stay there. But there is also the part of anguish linked to the fact that the world is not a hospitable place.”
IT CAN BE DONE, BUT WITHOUT RHETORIC ABOUT RESILIENCE
The title It can be done it might seem like a motivational phrase. But Matteo Alieno He would like to immediately clarify that this is not the case.
“I don't feel like sponsoring this hope, honestly, because it has a bit to do with resilience. In Italy a lot of the ruling class takes advantage of young people who say it can be done.”
The song instead comes from a very concrete moment: little money, discouragement, the feeling of not knowing how to move forward.
“It was a moment when I had hit rock bottom. I said: what do I do? Do I give up? But what happens if I give up?”.
The response, rather than an invitation to resist at all costs, becomes almost the opposite.
“Sometimes you have to realize when you have to give up. It doesn't mean losing forever, it means giving up that time. I gave up there while writing the song.”
NO ONE KNOWS WHICH TO BE IN THE WORLD AND THAT SENTENCE ABOUT PARENTS
In Nobody knows how to live in the world there is one of the most shocking phrases on the album: “parents, please, don't make love that evening”.
It makes you laugh, but only for a second. Immediately afterwards comes the full weight of the sentence.
“That evening is the whole meaning. I go back in time and tell my parents: don't conceive me that evening there.”
It is not a generic provocation about the extinction of the human race. It is a personal, almost impossible image: a child asking his parents to stop before everything begins.
“It moved me to imagine my parents making love and saying: don't do it, don't give birth to me. It's a phrase that makes you laugh, but it's infinitely sad.”
The phrase was born during a writing with Thunderbolts. He says, “Professor, please cancel my promotion.” Matteo Alieno he responds by going even further back.
“At that point we went right back to the origin. Don't get it wrong, guys.”
Below is our video interview with Matteo Alieno
Cover photo by Benedetta Pionati
