On the OndaRock homepage there is the video preview of the song “Where Crime Lives” by Simone Sello. A song with dark and noir tones, built on shadowy guitar riffs, rough blues harmonies and a tense and dramatic atmosphere, accentuated by the use of the harmonica. It is a song born from the encounter between music and social observation: the images that accompany “Where Crime Lives” were shot by Simone Sello during his visits to Skid Row, Los Angeles, one of the places that most explicitly illustrate the contradictions of one of the richest cities in the world. Sound and vision intertwine in a raw and direct story, without filters or artifices. The video clip for “Where Crime Lives” is conceived as a fragment of reality observed closely, without mediation or aesthetic embellishment. The direction adopts a direct look: faces, streets and urban details are shown in their essentiality, leaving room for “visual silence” and the implicit tension of the scenes. There are no actors or staging: the video relies exclusively on the strength of real places and the people who pass through them. While the editing follows the emotional structure of the piece, giving life to a story that neither judges nor spectacularises, but documents, leaving the spectator the task of dealing with reality. As a whole, the video clip is configured as a work suspended between music and urban reportage: a dry and disturbing portrait of the city's gray areas, where image and sound become instruments of testimony and awareness. The artist explains: “The video for 'Where Crime Lives' was born from a documentary need. During some of my previous visits to Skid Row, in Los Angeles, I felt the need to return there to film those images and translate my sensations into an artistic project. I got into the car armed with a camera and started filming the streets as they were: dirty, forgotten and populated by clearly disillusioned, in many cases desperate, people. During the editing phase, I let those faces and places told their stories simply by flowing, without adding or removing other elements. The song was written and recorded choosing rough guitars and essential blues harmonies: few interventions, but targeted. I wanted the music to have a limp, irregular pace, as if it advanced wounded but stubborn, observing without commenting. The piece was co-written and sung by Ashley Bottorff, who left us prematurely in Los Angeles: her voice and her presence remain a fundamental part of the soul. of the song and of my artistic journey.” “Paparazzi, Izakayas and Cowboys” is the new project by Simone Sello which blends Spaghetti Western atmospheres with rock/blues, surf and retro-futurist electronics, enriched with Japanese suggestions. Each song is conceived as a chapter of an imaginary film, where the guitar guides the listener through desert landscapes, neon urban nights and surreal sceneries. The album is released track after track, in a narrative journey that combines sonic research and cinematic vision. Live, the project transforms into a multimedia show with original music and projections in perfect synchrony.
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
