Emma Nolde: “The real revolution is being amazed by the little things”

The protagonists of “Separate Rooms” by Pier Vittorio Tondelli are aware that at a certain point they will have to break up, that their love story will end. And so Leo and Thomas try to experience time and space differently, embracing limits and infinite visions. Emma Nolde, Tuscan singer-songwriter born in 2000, with her new album “Nuovospaziotempo”, out on Friday 8 November, takes a similar journey into her feelings and fears and those of a generation, she sees time passing inexorably, but tries to fix moments of it . Talk to a newborn baby, go back in history to meet his father as a young man, look at the stars and not long for them, experience love stories where abandonment is part of the journey and identity appears as a light in between to the storm. “Nuovospaziotempo” is a very powerful album, which returns the clearest photograph of one of the best new generation singer-songwriters in Italy today, ready for the tour which will begin at the end of November.

Is this album your “Interstellar”, Nolan’s famous film, in which the protagonist travels through time and space?
It has some close aspects, but the protagonist takes a spaceship and goes into space. I do not. The only car I take is more like a time machine, then there’s also a bit of “Back to the Future” if we go and see (he smiles, ed.). The way I travel through time is more rudimentary, I have fewer means to do it than those who populate these films. I start from a strongly everyday dimension. I don’t leave my city. Even when at a certain point I met my father at twenty years old, he was in Empoli, I was in Empoli. It may seem like an interstellar album, but in reality it is very attached to everyday life: it is the search for one’s time in an extremely fast world. In “Tuttoscorre” I hope to stop that crazy time. In short, yes, I travel, but in the end I stay with my feet on the ground, I don’t go anywhere.

In “Pianopiano” you sing: “There are those who want to climb and reach the stars and those who, like us, prefer to stay and look at them. However, we too will reach the stars”. Do you claim another vision of life?
Yes, it’s an attitude that is emerging in more and more people. Let’s start from the fact that I have started to suffer from this speed of time because, like those of my age, I am anything but in a calm situation, despite living in the countryside. A phone that sends constant stimuli certainly doesn’t help. Here, in this whirlwind I demand attention to the things that cannot be seen. The real revolution is not to be distracted, to be amazed by the little things.

This is a songwriter’s album, but also a musician’s album. Compared to the previous ones it is more open. How did you arrive at this opening?
With a specific will. I wanted to do something that would be understood. There is a phrase that I have always liked: “I don’t want to be forgiven, I want to be understood”. I always try to question everything I do, I did it this time too: I wanted to find my key to being understood more. Compromise is often labeled as a negative word, but it isn’t. There is no relationship without compromise. For me, with this album, it was a challenge to seek simplification. But at the same time I have maintained a richness, a substance.

In “Punto di vista” with Niccolò Fabi you sing: “I don’t want to hide”. Is this an album where you show yourself more?
It is a record of greater revelation, sound and personal. I recorded everything with the people I play with. Everything, even the instruments that none of us play, but that we have played. Today I know more about what I want, I have also grown up… I am less afraid of many aspects. I’ve experienced that “hiding myself”… I’m already a person who tends to go into a corner. Yes, it’s true, I go on stage and sing, so it’s obvious that there is a bit of ego, but it’s not such a strong characteristic of me compared to others. For me “not hiding” also means making direct decisions, I have often focused on greys, this is an album in which there are more bold colours, blacks and whites.

What does the countryside and more provincial dimension where you live help you and what could it hold you back?
I want to continue living there because when I go out and meet my friends I hear stories of life, of everyday life, even simple ones. The bar under my house is truly another world. In Milan I always talk only about music, which is fine, of course, but I believe that those who write songs should listen to everyday voices, this is what I want to hear. If a songwriter doesn’t listen to those who do “normal” jobs, who should he listen to? At the same time it is not easy to make people understand what I do. There’s just no sense of what I’m doing. A few days ago they advised me to go and play for Halloween evening in a club for 40 euros (smiles, ed.). But it’s not just me, Bnkr44 and Il Postino are also experiencing a similar situation. However, I strongly believe in territorial connections and will always try to collaborate with Tuscan entities.

You close the album with “2”, which is a more sparse and direct guitar and vocal track. Is it landing after the trip?
I wanted to finish the journey into the world, leaving the dimension of the disk. It is a song recorded with a Smartphone.

In “Strangers” you project a finished relationship forward ten years.
It’s a piece that comes from a relationship that we knew would end soon for various reasons. And so I imagined: what will she be like in ten years? Will we be like two strangers? If you truly loved a person, the thing that hurts the most is no longer sharing in their happiness.

Do Fabi, Nayt and Mecna, the guests on the album, have a similar vision of music to yours?
Yes. We are people who give a lot of importance to lyrics. Fabi is part of a generation, Nayt and Mecna of yet others. For me there is a red thread that ties everything together. I would like to carry on my shoulders the weight of a more classic songwriting, which I like, and at the same time also embrace more contemporary music. I’m halfway between the three of them.

But is your generation closer to your vision of music or that of algorithms and pre-packaged hits?
My generation grew up with special effects, with video games, in a very strong fictional world. Putting yourself on a pedestal was the best you could achieve until some time ago. Well, I believe that today things are slowly changing because there is a greater need for truth and many are understanding when something has been done with passion and effort, or in a hurry. I think my generation doesn’t care so much about special effects anymore. Then there is a whole discussion, a very broad one, which concerns the future. Today, people my age are very afraid of tomorrow because they can’t imagine it. This aspect also has an important bearing on the rediscovery of the truth.

In “Mermaids” sing “and tell him that you change for love, but you don’t change who you love”. Is this the formula for a perfect relationship?
The person I’m talking about has always been made to feel wrong, in his family and in relationships. Speaking to her, she is an adult over 50 years old, she told me that she understood that she could no longer change for others, that she wanted to go back to being what she has always been. That for me is a form of authenticity, it is an important awareness. Let’s be clear: it’s nice to be able to change for love, you can change, but you have to want it, you can’t impose it.

“Never stop” is it aimed at a child who has just come into the world?
Yes, initially I wanted to talk to an alien, explain to him why we are all so fast and frenetic. But then the figure of the alien was replaced with that of a child. I’m raw, I say: “you will have more maps than roads”. Because, as I explained, the concept of the future seems really distant today, especially in Italy. And I come to say that it is better, perhaps, in this situation, to stop desiring. It’s a harsh vision that doesn’t actually coincide with the true spirit of the album, which in the end in my opinion is certainly full of doubts, but it’s not that pessimistic. In any case, I’m interested in the fact that somehow, in the songs, there are visions, ideas, with which the listener can agree or not. There must be an “ending”, right or wrong.