Baltimore: “After X Factor I felt like a machine”
«When life speeds up, I’m the first to get off», sings Baltimore in a verse of “Where to Go”, one of the ten songs contained in his debut album “In Pocket”. Five years ago Edoardo Spinsante, this is the real name of the singer-songwriter from the Marche region, won the X Factor at just 20 years old. But instead of letting himself be carried away by the inevitable rush of media exposure, he chose to pull himself out of the centrifuge. Very few appearances, no chase for the spotlight, the need to take time to understand what artist he really wanted to become. In recent years Baltimore has preferred to work away from the noise, calmly building an “increasingly personal and recognizable” writing style. Now, five years after the talent, he is ready to release what he considers his first real album, after the “Marecittà” EP of 2022. It is called “In pocket”, it comes out on May 29th and it is a record that tells of the time spent slowing down, observing and finding an authentic voice.
The meaning of the project is all in the verse of “Where to go”?
“Yes. It’s the main theme. I’ve never been too much of a fan of rushing things. I don’t regret anything about the choices made in these five years: I think they were all fundamental for my personal and artistic growth. I didn’t feel ready and the context around me didn’t seem right.”
What do you mean?
«I was not given the opportunity to take my time to mature humanly as an artist. That kind of approach to music wasn’t what I had always had. I said to myself: if I need to calm things down a bit to get back to my rhythm, I’ll let them calm down. And so I did.”
What kind of experiences have you had in recent years?
«I went back to gaining experience as an author and producer. I wrote a couple of pieces for the guys from “Amici”. Nothing gigantic. And, to be honest, nothing I’m particularly proud of.”
Honest.
«But it was an experience that made me understand how things work in industry, in Milan. But I realized that I had gone from the frying pan to the fire. While I was writing I felt limited. They told me: “Only you can sing this stuff, you have to do something more open.” At a certain point I said to myself: “Do you know what? Now I write for myself”.
«I would do without contracts, missteps and managers», you sing in “The Rules / Una Voce”. Did you finally create your own rules?
“Already. And this is my greatest satisfaction. My manager is my best friend. After having entrusted myself to people with whom I never developed a connection, I understood that what matters is the human relationship. I played the album with my friends and recorded with them. It smells like home, even on a sound level: there are many imperfections, but I feel it is mine. This is why I titled it “The Pockets”: because there is nothing we know as well as our pockets. By delving into myself with the songs I managed to get to know myself.”
«Fourth year, ninth day, sixth me / I move my arm, I write what is inside me / like a cyborg I will reprogram my code for you», you sing in “Sixth me”. Have you ever actually felt like a machine in the record system?
“Very, very much. The song is the last one I included on the album, but the first I wrote after The X Factor. I had started to be an author and already understood that that wasn’t my path. After
On the album there is a duet with Emma Nolde, “Rimbalzo”: what connects you?
«I met her right after the talent show. Over the years we have cultivated a beautiful, sincere relationship: she is a true person and artist. We found each other.”
The tour?
«We will announce it shortly. I’m happy. After a long time, I will go back to playing with my band. I have waited a long time for this moment.”
