Traveling with Lowtopic, between ancient emotions and new horizons
There is an idea of lightness, but also of awareness, behind it “chiaro”, the third album by Genoese producer Francesco Bacci, aka Lowtopic. An instrumental electronic record that looks both at emotional clubbing and at the contemplative dimension, moving between ethereal samples, organic breakbeats and analog synthesizers. A work that could speak to listeners of artists such as Four Tet, Ross From Friends, Jasper Tygner and Baril, but which arises above all from the need to find a personal language. Out on June 12th on the German label NORR, with Believe distribution, “chiaro” is also an audiovisual project developed together with 010 Films. An element that does not represent a simple visual accompaniment, but an integral part of the work. Here you will find the next live dates.
“These songs marry perfectly with images – says Lowtopic – in fact it is an audiovisual project, even from a live point of view it will be a great embrace between these pieces and the snapshots of tribes around the world, it is a way to bring the listener more into an idea of travel”. The title of the album reflects a specific creative and personal phase: “It recalls a mental state in which I feel like I’m doing the right thing for myself at a certain moment, without thinking too much about it. This project represents an unexpected moment of clarity. It was made without two versions, without changing anything. I knew exactly what I wanted to do.” A stance that also translates into a different approach to work: “I no longer want to suffer to make records, both professionally and emotionally. I didn’t want to have the luxury of making mistakes and thinking too much.” The very origin of the project tells of this spontaneity: “The first piece ‘Gionney TAPE’ was born while playing with my son in the studio. It is no coincidence that it took shape in that free way, without thoughts or superstructures”.
If in previous works the center of the story was often represented by a strongly autobiographical dimension, in “clear” the gaze broadens towards new sound geographies. One of the main innovations is in fact the use of vocal samples coming from different musical traditions. “The particular element of this album are the ethnic vocal samples, which I used out of curiosity. Inside ‘Bacci’ there is the trallalero of the Canterini di Sant’Olcese. In ‘Cirandeiro’ there is a Brazilian song. In ‘Rosa’ there is the voice of Totó la Momposina, a traditional Colombian artist. I wanted to add something that would push my boundaries“. What holds everything together? “Emotion, being human: we always have this need to divide time into boxes, between past, present and future. But the voices of yesterday and those of today are part of the same great flow. For many cultures it is like this: there is no separation between the various eras”, says the producer.
Alongside the usual vinyl purchased and sampled over the years, Lowtopic has also chosen to experiment with different tools and sources. “There’s my way of working, there are vinyls bought in Berlin and then sampled, which is always a beautiful thing. But I also wanted to exorcise some producer practices and so I took some videos from YouTube, from which I recorded some voices, I experimented with artificial intelligence for the first time on one piece. I wanted to break out of certain boundaries, both in terms of work and narrative.” A research that also reflects a broader vision of the current global musical panorama.”In the previous albums there was a lot of my personal emotion, which is also maintained here, but the possibility of inserting ethnic samples made me look elsewhere. I believe that the centrality of the West on a musical level is no longer so strong. Both in the mainstream and in the underground there is an increasingly greater desire to move towards other things”. More than a concept album, “chiaro” seems to be a collection of fragments: images, people, places and sounds that have crossed the artist’s life and which today find a new form. An attempt at synthesis which, in Lowtopic’s intentions, aims less at perfection and more at the search for balance.
