Davide Squillace walks us thru ‘Once Upon A Time In Napoli’
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Davide Squillace recently announced he was return with a new ten track LP, titled ‘Once Upon A Time In Napoli’.
Originally from Naples, Davide Squillace has cemented his position as a renowned DJ/Producer since first appearing on the scene back in 2004. A resident of iconic Ibiza institution Circoloco for over ten years, more recently Squillace can be found touring with Matthias Tanzmann and Martin Buttrich as one third of Better Lost Than Stupid.
To be released on Crosstown Rebels this March, “The album covers the many textures of this journey, with influences of the early days in Naples to my Circoloco residency in Ibiza. Ranging from the warmth of classic analogue synths to the crisp precision of digital beats”
We ask Davide, to walk us through how each track came about and the stories behind each of the tracks, whilst you read the stories you can listen to the album on Spotify in the handy player.
The Boogie Man
‘The Boogie Man’ is my take on the socio-political ills currently taking place. Lyrically, it is very topical and relevant. The Boogie Man is a metaphor for the establishment and all the corporations. They have realised the power that we the people have in the age of the internet. All the information we’ve been forced to accept as truth and morally sound can easily be rebuffed now. It’s getting harder to conceal their transgressions.
In The Mood for Love
‘In The Mood for Love’ came from direct from the nostalgia I received after watching Wong Kar-Wai’s movie. It is reminiscent of that time when love is new and pure, a feeling that you only get once in a lifetime. So this song is my attempt at trying to recreate that sensation.
Dada
‘Dada’ was inspired by the Dadasim era in art. This song was more about trusting my intuition as opposed to being bound by rules and structure. I worked under the tutelage of Paki Palmieri who has lived in Africa for a long time to truly grasp the skill of drumming in all its forms.
Napoli Texas
‘Napoli Texas’ is my homage to a song that greatly influenced me as a child in Napoli. It was a 90’s techno song produced by someone in Texas. So this is my way of giving him his due respect and honour while acknowledging my beginnings as an artist.
Noah
‘Noah’ is my reading of the Genesis story. I’m not contesting the validity of it but I thought it would be interesting to narrate the story through this medium. I approached the arrangement and layering of the song in direct correlation to the story’s trajectory. It begins with Noah collecting all the animals to be put on the arc in the midst of the impending flood. And as all the mess starts to happen, the song viscerally goes through its own highs and lows just like a thunderstorm. Then finally ending on a calming note.
How We Communicate
‘How We Communicate’ speaks to the very restrictions of language and speech. With there being no actual lyrics there’s a sense of irony, poking fun at we can communicate with solely non-verbal cues.
Iron Odyssey
‘Iron Odyssey’ harkens back to the 1000 misadventures that Ulysses undergoes before returning to Itaca in Homer’s landmark poem ‘Odyssey’. Perhaps uncreative but the “Iron” part of the title simply comes from the metallic sounds present in the track. Most of the song came together on my modular synthesizer.
Vostok
‘Vostok’ is one of my more experimental tracks. It has elements of rock and a little bit of punk but the percussion on the track is still signature to me.
The Sin
Finally ‘The Sin’ introduces my next project/album Telemaco. It feels like I’m on an unknown planet were the gravity force is not like the one we are used to on planet Earth and I´m trying to walk on it. You can only imagine how that could go.
The Sin
Closing the project is ‘The Sin’ and this actually is an introduction to the next album ‘Telmaco’.When you listen to the song it is like being on an undiscovered galaxy where the force of gravity significantly differs to what we’re accustomed to on planet Earth. A very peculiar and trippy concept right?
