By The Deep Sea Federico Albanese

• Federico Albanese (1982 - ):
• 1 682 Steps 01:51
• 2 We Were There 03:37
• 3 Your Lunar Way 03:06
• 4 Slow Within 02:41
• 5 Mauer Blues 04:01
• 6 Untold 04:23
• 7 Boardwalk 04:20
• 8 The Room 03:48
• 9 Veiled 04:33
• 10 By The Deep Sea 03:58
• 11 Minor Revolt 03:08
• 12 The Cradle 04:06
• Total Runtime 43:32

Info for By The Deep Sea

Federico Albanese’s third album – the Italian composer’s most ambitious, and perhaps most serene – begins with a piece entitled ‘682 Steps’, inspired by a path that runs from his mother’s house to a rock by the sea, a place which holds a certain resonance for him. Why, he won’t say: just because a piece of music has no lyrics doesn’t mean it’s less personal, and this is as personal as it gets. “It’s pretty much me,” Albanese in fact says, “translated into music.” But a clue to the composition’s significance lies in the album’s title: this rock, he says, “is also where I imagined Lord Byron writing his poem ‘The Sea’.”

The poem is notable for its juxtaposition of concepts centred around ideas of society and solitude, and for acknowledging the pleasure of pursuing routes others have not. It’s a fitting source for the album’s title: these are themes familiar to Albanese, who wrote the music over “a year in which a lot happened, stuff that’s difficult to explain. These twelve songs are moments that needed to be described. Music is the vehicle I’ve chosen to express my deepest feelings, the ones that, even to me, are difficult to understand.”

Nonetheless, Albanese, who moved to the German capital in 2012, isn’t afraid of sharing some of the details behind the music. “Berlin is always in there,” he says. “Pieces like ‘Mauer Blues’ and ‘Boardwalk’ describe the city, the rumble of ideas and inspiration that it still delivers. The title track describes a final revelation, the moment in which you find the right distance to clearly see your ‘deep sea’, and the record ends with ‘The Cradle’, which I wrote while my one-month-old son was lying on the piano.”#

„But,“ he adds, “I don’t want people to be directed towards a specific thought or experience of my own. I’d prefer them to elaborate on their own thoughts and experiences.” Fortunately, By The Deep Sea provides plenty of opportunities for that. From the gently swelling ‘We Were There’ and increasingly urgent ‘Mauer Blues’, to the moving ‘Minor Revolt’ and soothing ‘The Cradle’, via the delicately Reichian ‘Your Lunar Way’ and ‘Boardwalk’, the contemplative ‘Slow Within’, the rippling, expansive ‘Veiled’, and the magical ‘Untold’ – which unexpectedly recalls some of Vini Reily’s most fragile work – it’s a work of remarkable nuance, elegance and, naturally, depth.

Most pieces were born of improvisation, many while on the road where Albanese would record parts on different pianos, in different places. Later, Albanese would develop their arrangements, and By The Deep Sea exhibits some of his work’s richest instrumentation. He’s joined by ILLAY, whom he met at Bremen’s Jazzahead! Festival, and long-term collaborator Arthur Horning, both on cello, while Simon Goff, who also assisted engineer Francesco Donadello with mixing, contributes violin. Naturally, Albanese – who produced the album– provides its crucial instrument, piano, as well as Rhodes piano, synthesisers, Hammond organ, electric, acoustic and bass guitars, plus field recordings.

“All albums are personal in a way,” Albanese concludes, “but By The Deep Sea really tells the story of an inner space buried in a deep self.” Without doubt his most accomplished work to date, it insists on full immersion."

Federico Albanese, piano

Federico Albanese
is a composer born in Milan,Italy in 1982. His musical versatility is a natural gift that pushes him to explore music in all its facets. Albanese’s compositions are airy and cinematic, blending classical music, pop and psychedelia. He started studying piano and clarinet as a child before becoming fascinated by rock music performing in several bands. Influenced by black music, folk, electronic, modern and contemporary classical music his skills as a composer soon emerged, He worked for 5 years as prop man in several film sets. This experience made him understand the power of the connection between music and images and helped him to develop his personal musical path. In 2007 he met singer and songwriter Jessica Einaudi and together they founded the avant-garde duo “La Blanche Alchimie”. Composing songs with Jessica he rediscovered his love for the piano, which from that moment on, became his main instrument. They released 2 albums and gained national and international critical attention, performing around Europe, Russia and USA. Their sound has been described as melancholic and haunting, intermingling mellow acoustics and rock-infused dreamscapes.The first omonymous album was released in Italy in 2009 on Ponderosa/Edel. The second album “Galactic Boredom” was released in Italy in 2011 on Ponderosa/Universal and in Germany in 2012 on Q-rious/Edel. In september 2012 the band has been nominated by “Preis der deutschenShallplattenkritik” in the category of best independent album. In 2010 he scored the soundtrack of the short film “Pick up” by Manyhands - a collective of young italian directors - broadcasted by one the most important italian television channels (SKY). In 2012 he scored the soundtrack of documentary “Fabulae Romane” filmed by Matteo Cherubino, a work that documents the first of a structured set of activities of Zegnart - a project commissioned by Ermenegildo Zegna dedicated to the art of our time - that took place at MaXXI - National Museum of XXI Century Arts in Rome. In 2012 he composed the music of full length film “Shadows in the distance” by spanish director Orlando Bosh which has been premiered at Shanghai Film Festival. Between 2013 and 2014 Federico composed and produced music for several films and projects, including the debut short film by Bahar Ebrahim “Alles im grünen Bereich”, and the documentary “Cinema Perverso” by Oliver Shweem produced by the german TV channel ARTE..

Released in February 2014, his highly acclaimed debut solo album “The Houseboat and the Moon” has been described as “pure gold” , and “ one of the most beautiful modern classical albums of the past years..” . He also produced and arranged J Moon (aka Jessica Eianudi) first solo album “Melt”. In August 2014 he released a “Reworked” version of “The Houseboat and the Moon” featuring remixes of Cassegrain, John Lemke, Franz Kirmann and Saffronkeira.

Albanese’s second full lenght album entitled “The Blue Hour” will see the light of the day on January 15, 2016 and will be released by the historical record label BERLIN CLASSICS in their new series of contemporary classical music called “Neue Maister”.

This album contains no booklet.