INFESTA Goes to Darker Places in “Abisso Blu” LP, Where Depth Brings a Lack of Light // An Interview with INFESTA + “Stordimento” Video Premiere

• Thanks so much for another interview. Going back on your debut with a cool head, are you satisfied with it? What could have been better, and what are you particularly fond of?

I’m really happy with my debut album. I think that, in the trajectory of a new solo project, it was essential just to start the journey, and for me, that happened pretty naturally by putting out “Passerella”.  Looking back, I’m very satisfied not only with the music but also with the visual side of the record, as well as the music video we made with director Radiana Basso, which premiered on WL//WH two years ago. What could have been better? For me, the vocals can always be better. That’s also because I keep discovering new vocal colors when I perform the songs live. Listening back to the record now, I realize there are richer vocal interpretations that I sing today, but that aren’t in the recorded version.

• Did you rewire and tweak your composing processes and approach to a further degree, or did you essentially pick up where you left off?

My creative process has stayed pretty similar to what I described when talking about the first record. I find it easy to work and compose when I fully immerse myself in it. “Abisso Blu” was written in September 2024, in about a week, at least the album’s skeleton.

• You continue your quest of “forty years of Italian new wave and singer-songwriter tradition”, how do you think what is explored thematically has evolved and dug deeper from your first album to the newest one?

It’s a beautiful line that a good friend wrote about the record, and I used it as the description; it’s a good take on my album. I’d say there’s a thematic continuity with the first album. As the title suggests, in this group of songs, I wasn’t afraid to go into darker places, where depth brings a lack of light. It’s a dark record, and not an easy one. That idea of a kind of “quest,” though, really resonates with my musical path. Making music is actually allowing me to move more freely across styles and themes in a way I never would have imagined I could explore just a few years ago.

• When composing, how do you harmonize the words with the music? Does this latter shape around the lyrical content, or do words trigger sounds?
  

I usually start with the instrumentals, sometimes already having a vocal line in mind—but more in terms of sound and rhythm than meaning. I often move forward by improvising lyrics over the instrumentals, and when I do that, I always keep a lot of lyrical material close at hand: pages from books I love that have moved me, poems, my own notes, images from dreams and fantasies, and diaries. I’d say that some of the words in the very first demo help create the thematic “room” where the final lyrics will move.

I always do a lot of rewriting on the texts; for the second record as well, I finished the lyrics collaboratively, working closely with the poet Marko Miladinovic. At the same time, it often happens that the final lyrics end up suggesting changes to the harmonies and the overall sound of the track, so there is definitely a small influence in the opposite direction too.

• Tell us a bit about the creative process behind the new material. How it developed and gradually took its final form, and how it differed from the previous album.
  

As I said before, I wrote the album in September 2024. In the following months, I finished the lyrics, refined the different harmonic lines, recorded the final vocals, worked more on the structures, and then re-recorded the vocals again. Compared to the first record, it was a longer process, also because I was working on other projects at the same time, but also because I found myself with a lot of songs to carry forward—it’s a long record, with 17 tracks in its final form.

In a way, I feel like I had to push myself to bring this group of songs to completion. At some point, I caught myself thinking it might not even be necessary to release this chapter and that I could just move on to the next one—I was worried it might come across as too heavy as a record. In the end, I’m really satisfied and happy that I managed to see it through and bring this album to the public in this form.

• What are the overall concepts and inspirations behind the new LP, starting with the album title? Is there a particular thread that links, both lyrically and sonically, 17 songs of the album together?
  

“Abisso Blu” is meant as a world of mystery—unknown creatures, solitary because it’s hostile, yet fascinating with its immense pressure and scarcity of light. It’s a reference to the marine world, something that, even as humans, feels ancestrally close to us. It’s an album of estrangement, but also of deep sadness—of separation and the discovery of new perspectives, perhaps looking back toward the surface, crossing it again, somewhere between darkness and light.

• The new tracks, whilst still shrouded in darkness, sound deeper, more straightforward and cathartic to me, pervaded by more saturated, droning tones, with an accentuated resonance of the rhythmic patterns. What’s your take?

I’ve always found it somehow magical that someone can listen to music and then share their impressions and perceptions with me. You can definitely hear the work I put into the rhythmic and sonic exploration that shapes the whole album. Regarding the technical changes: for the rhythm, I incorporated a Pulsar-23 into the composition of “Abisso Blu”, which is where the new drum sounds come from. For the rest, the minimal trio remains: ARP Odyssey, electric bass, and Moog Mother-32.

• It’s an album so fueled and filled with a sort of electro-punk energy that it seems to go beyond the material ‘record’ dimension.
  

Listening back to the record and the songs, I can feel a whole room—tall walls and really clear landscapes, I think I get what you mean.

• How did this certainly bold choice of a rich 15-track album come about? Was it a spontaneous, straightforward result? Sometimes the tracks give the impression of linking together seamlessly…
  

As I was saying above, I found myself with a large number of songs to choose from after the initial writing phase. In the end, I discarded very little, and 17 tracks remained, which I carried forward until I had to reduce them to 15 for the vinyl version. In hindsight, it might have been better to limit the amount of music, but it’s hard to say. I’m nonetheless happy with the world that has taken shape: I think it’s essential to move in a zigzag between the walls of this abyss and understand what kind of path you want to create for yourself. There are many possible combinations, and the thematic and musical links are certainly not lacking.

• What’s the meaning of the LP’s artwork? Hope, escapism?
  

The album’s artwork comes from a sort of crossover between the cover of the record “Gefangenen Vögel” by the band Lunapark and the imaginary of the Italian design collective Superstudio. At one point, I came up with the idea of this mathematical, sterile plane, cut by an abyssal fissure. I think that in its final form, this image leaves a lot of room for movement and, let’s say, a positive evolution toward that vast Blue that extends beyond, and toward a possible surface. We’re not constantly being pulled deeper; rather, we find ourselves floating toward these great possibilities. I love how the textures created by Monica Müller can sometimes appear very clear in their three-dimensionality, only to then confuse the viewer’s eye, creating new abstract geometries.

• As inspired by the storytelling intricacy of Italian ‘cantautori’, what are your own endeavours and challenges as a lyric writer?
  

My biggest challenge is still wide open – I hope I get there with the next record: writing a few real ballads with a story that unfolds in front of the listener every time they hear it.

• Let’s talk deeper about the lyrics. Disenchanted, existential, at times raw and real, at times surreal. Anchored to an often desolate and disturbing reality, looking for an escapism…
  

With music, one can evoke great peaks and vast landscapes; words are no less powerful. As I mentioned in the question about the compositional process, one of the things that shapes my lyrics is books. In “Abisso Blu”, you can find fragments, echoes, and influences from Natalia Ginzburg, Maurice Blanchot, Elio Vittorini, Thomas Bernhard, Giacomo Leopardi, and Silvio D’Arzo.

• Where does the impulse to create something come from? What are your sources of inspiration?

Personally, I create to push back against the machine, to build community, to share, to remember and celebrate life, to do something nice for myself, to please myself, to get that sense of satisfaction, and then to play live with other people—to not be “productive” in some purely measurable way. It’s a huge privilege to be able to create and then step on stage with that kind of freedom of expression. For me, music is definitely a political act—maybe that goes without saying.

• Given the complexities of these challenging times, the somewhat sneaking implementation of AI, plus the saturation of releases, what’s your view on the values and importance that music can have today?

I think it’s essential to confront ourselves with the multitude that can make us feel insignificant, even in our creative acts of strong individuality, which are so unique and personal. Every time it comes close to releasing an album, I realize the enormous flow of new releases and premieres circulating online and through the underground scenes. What truly remains are the real encounters, the friendships, the exchanges, the feedback from those who listen—whether on record or live—and the fleeting magic of crystallizing phases, moments, and feelings of our lives into art.

• Talk to us about your live shows.
  

Since the release of my first album, I’ve been able to perform several concerts across Europe and abroad as a solo act, and in February 2025, I went on a wonderful European tour as a duo with musician Matteo Divo Simonin, for a total of around 40 shows. The duo setup allows for new harmonic heights and frees me from certain repetitions in the structures.  Playing live is amazing. Unfortunately, in today’s music scene, if you follow a more DIY approach rather than relying on bigger promoters, finding gigs and organizing shows comes at the cost of a huge mental and psychological effort, as well as a heavy workload. That said, it’s always wonderful to perform—so if you want to hear Infesta live, just get in touch!

• Which are the best/worst live experiences so far? How does your emotional interaction with the audience work during a gig? What kind of feedback have you received from them?

The toughest live situations for me are the open-air ones, in broad daylight—it’s definitely harder for me to get in the zone in those conditions, especially when I’m playing solo. I need to feel the audience close during live shows, if the space is enclosed and the crowd is active and responsive, that connection locks in quickly, no room for doubt. When the conditions aren’t as ideal, it comes down to the musicians’ experience, the energy, and the instinct of the moment to build that bridge—or to transcend the actual reality of a tough gig.

Often our—or my—live shows are well liked, both rhythmically, for dancing and grooving, and in terms of content and lyrics. We get all kinds of feedback, and I think that’s pretty normal for everyone. One thing that always fascinates me is how people who aren’t native Italian speakers become enchanted by the language’s musicality and, in some way, form their own perception of this musical world.

• How did you begin your collaboration with two formally quite different independent labels, such as the leftfield avant-garde electronica of Osàre! Editions and the raw synth-driven punk sound of Stanze Fredde?

When I discovered the label Stanze Fredde, I immediately felt a strong affinity with the ethic and approach of Tommaso and Bianca. After meeting them in person, it became clear that my music could find a wonderful home at Stanze Fredde.

With Osàre Editions, I feel like we met halfway. Elena Colombi played some tracks from Passerella during her curated slots on NTS, while I came across the label through releases I really appreciated, such as the compilation Donne che corrono coi lupi and the album “Blod in the Grass” by producer Johannes Haas (L.F.T). Once this mutual interest was established, we got in touch and had the chance to meet a few times when Elena Colombi came through Lugano to perform. For me, it’s great to bring these two worlds together with this co-release: both in their own way kindred and close to me, it feels completely natural within this ecosystem.

• Music is today (the present), but it is also the past, what was before (the tradition), and tomorrow, the intuition of what will come (the future)…how do the three of these temporal axes construct and dissect your music?

One of the greatest privileges of having access to vast musical and literary archives is that it allows you to move consciously, as a listener or musician, within this constantly reshuffling system of temporal coordinates. I see myself as a musician joyfully exploring this multitude, embracing the unexpected, without the intention of fully understanding where my trajectory will lead.

• Do you regard art and culture as survival mechanisms?
  

As I sang and urged repeatedly in the track “Immane” from my first album: “Listen to the voice of art, of culture, and of science—abandon aimless paths.” I believe that art and culture are profound and high (maybe elevated or elevating) human eldorados—allowing us not just to merely survive, but to truly live.

Matteo Simonin

• Which of the contemporary artists, composers, or bands do you feel the most affinity with? What are you listening to these days?

It’s always difficult to answer this kind of question, but it’s important. Here’s a list of kindred musical projects, talented musician friends, and other things I simply enjoy and that exist right now: Schade, Noir Boy George, Conny Frischauf, Cedric Blaser, Palme Cadelli, Das Kinn, Dame Area, Hirsute, Rue Oberkampf, Johnny Couteau, Laura Krieg, the whole Stanze Fredde roster, Concetta Spaziale, Amiata(pop musik) and Nada.

• When it comes to experiencing strong emotions as a listener, which albums, performances, and artists come to mind?

A couple of really great live experiences from last summer come to mind, as a listener: Dame Area and The Bad Plug here in Lugano. I think the key is being willing to just let yourself go—if the live set hits the right spots, you really take off.

• What’s next for Infesta?

The next steps: bringing “Abisso Blu” to the stage live. We’ll be traveling across Europe in a scattered setup for a tour that will reach various countries between now and the end of 2026. Keep an eye on our social media, and you’ll find out where and how to catch us! Of course, work on the next album is already well underway. I’m excited to share this new and radiant music with you soon!

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