"Love letters beneath the doric tomb" is a love declaration to our time in the form of an intimate musical journey recorded between Berlin, Dresden and Rome and entirely played by the composer, guitarist and producer Enrico Olivanti on electric guitars, acoustic guitars, slide guitar, synthesizers, percussions, piano, voice, sound design, bouzouki, tibetan bells and composition and co-produced and mixed by Stefano Barone.
XJAZZ!: What is the main idea/ inspiration for the album?
Enrico: The main inspiration for the album came in the winter 2019 during a walk on the via Appia, the most famous Road of the ancient Rome. I went into a Museum and I discovered some letters from the 1920s. A man and a woman wrote each other letters during their secret and forbidden relationship that lasted for 5 years. He seems to have been a bit older than her and we suppose they could have met because of their common job (unfortunately all we know about the two comes from the letters).
After five years the two had to end their relationship and agreed to burn the letters. Instead, the man decided to burry them beneath a famous ancient tomb on the via Appia just to deliver the memory of this big love to the eternity. That’s how they came to us after a casual discovery in 1999, after seventy years! When I found myself working on new music in such a time of danger, insecurity, loss and trauma like the very first period of the Covid 19 Pandemic I felt myself very close to the spirit of that guy, whose name was Ugo. My creative act in that moment had no other purpose than expressing my deep feelings and the deep state of my soul without any guaranty that this music could be heard and cherished by anybody than myself. So I found myself working on an album that sounds like a declaration of love to a difficult time with its darkness and its light, its fears and its big amount of kindness and love.
XJAZZ!: Who are the people that are participating in your album?
Enrico: I am actually the only musician playing on the album. I played many different instruments: all guitar parts, piano, synthesizers, Tibetan bells, loops, sound design and bouzouki.
Stefano Barone helped me in the co-production, giving a more analog-like sound to the whole album.
I would like to mention also the wonderful work by Eugenio Vatta, who mastered the album, and Danilo Di Prizio, who worked at the graphic design of the cover.
XJAZZ!: Three words to describe your album?
Enrico: Diverse, cinematic, pure.