There is enormous mutual esteem between Charlie Risso and Federico Dragonna. You can tell by how they talk and talk about each other’s music, by how they listen to it and live it. That the Genoese singer-songwriter and the Milanese musician, the backbone of the Ministers, would therefore find a way to get together to work was in the air. The occasion was Charlie Risso’s new EP, The Light, of which Dragonna supervised the artistic production. Four songs, released on November 4th, which collect mutual inspirations and lead Risso into new sound and emotional dimensions.
Taking advantage of this occasion, we asked the two to recommend each other’s favorite songs, so as to create a four-hands playlist, just like in The Light.
“I am made of snow” Ministers
A sweet song of great sensitivity. An unusual ballad for Ministers because it deviates from their usual sonorities and this struck me as all those ballads that I love and have loved by historic hard rock bands such as Nirvana with The Man Who Sold The World. I am made of snow it is a passage that denounces the living conditions of the inhabitants of the Ex Moi of Turin and is a direct invitation to those who could intervene, not to look the other way. (CR)
“SIN” Charlie Risso
SIN – the second piece of the EP – had as working title Norway and when I heard the melody of the verse I thought it would be perfect to hear it at sunset, hurling along a road in the woods of Norway. I’ve never been to Norway, a bit like Salgari set a thousand books in India or Malaysia without ever leaving Italy. But this is precisely, I think, one of the great tasks that music and literature have: to make us travel, without having to take a step. (FD)
“Winter” Fabrizio De Andrè (ministers cover)
Difficult for a Genoese like me when other musicians decide to “cover” one of her songs. A truly courageous undertaking and yet this version of the Ministers, which I heard for the first time in the studio by Mattia Cominotto, moves me, not to mention the video shot by the talented Marco Pellegrino. Vote 10. (CR)
“The Light” Charlie Risso
I grew up, like many of my generation, with the imprint of Twin Peaks – a strange combination of music, places and darkness that has bewitched even those who have never seen the series. For this reason, as a producer, I have always kept my ears open hoping to meet a Julee Cruise on my way, Lynch’s muse and voice of many pieces of the original soundtrack: Charlie was that meeting, and The Light it’s kind of his The Nightingale – an epic and dreamy piece that I would like to hear when I enter a local One Eyed Jacks in the hills behind Genoa (where instead there are only wild boars). (FD)
“Anyway” Ministers
How can you sit still on armchairs when you listen Anyway? It makes me dance and I love to dance, like in the days when we all went to the Crocodile in Sampierdarena. The most varied bands passed through there: from surf to punk to rock. Among the best evenings ever and which regularly ended in front of the ovens already operational at that time, eating hot focaccia. Here you are Anyway it kind of reminds me of those moments, it evokes the sensations of my carefree youth, with that explosive charge that propels you forward… to resist, not to give up. If you haven’t heard it live yet, get ready to jump! (CR)
“Dark” Charlie Risso
Does it make sense to write songs in English if you live and play mostly here, in Italy? Maybe not, actually, yet I believe that a part of the imagination we have inside is now inextricably linked to English. And, at least for me, it’s the dark part – like the title of the first song I heard by Charlie Risso. Heard and seen: it had a video that sounded like a dream and the melody I’d expect from a spell. And while I was lost in it, I thought it’s nice that a certain darkness inside me speaks another language. (FD)
New Church Federico Dragogna
This production by Federico is splendid in which I recognize part of the influences contained in my EP The Light. The Man Who Stole Banksy is a very interesting documentary film that deals with issues related to speculation in the street art market. A Palestinian point of view on Western art. It reminded me a bit of the late nineties of Tricky, a nice loop(one) of those that you would like to find in the car wandering around the city of London at night. (CR)
“Tornado” Charlie Risso
The first tornado I encountered in my life was the one that carried Dorothy away The Wizard of Oz – which as a child I tried to synchronize with Dark Side Of The Moon as legend has it. The Tornado by Charlie Risso is a beautiful country ballad that could easily resonate in a dusty club along a Kansas interstate and perhaps look just as good under images of Dorothy flying with her dog Toto. Is it possible that country music is the most suitable soundtrack for such violent and devastating atmospheric phenomena? Absolutely yes. (FD)
“Worse than nothing” Ministers
In addition to loving its energy, which often distinguishes Federico’s ministers and guitar riffs, I find the text that refers to the pandemic with a decidedly darker look at “how we will get out of it” very interesting. It represents anti-do-gooders at all costs. The video clip has those dark tones that always fascinate me and it reminded me of the super productions of the video clips of Marvin Lee Aday, better known as Meat Loaf, who unfortunately left us this year, with the difference that instead of Ellen Foley and Angelina Jolie to accompany Federico, Davide and Michele in the video clip are three wonderful white bunnies. (CR)
“Nothing At All” Charlie Risso
Zavattini said «I have always believed that melancholy originated in the Po. And that elsewhere it was a question of imitations». The video of the beautiful Nothing At Allwhich is shot in ASper8 (that is, the film that manages to triple any melancholy), has as its location precisely that part of Italy where the Po plunges into the sea – the same winter setting of an old film with Alain Delon, The first night of peace. If Lana del Rey had been born across the ocean, I think she would have made the same choice as Charlie. (FD)
