On this particular column for Atwood Journal, I discover the affect of 1 artist and album throughout the vary of my expertise in a single metropolis or throughout a number of cities. The aspiration is that you’ll resonate with my experiences and the way they could intersect with your individual life in deepening our understanding and reflection on a selected artist and album in our modern world.
•• •• •• ••
Emma Marrone’s seventh studio LP ‘Memento’ allows profound contemplation about one’s significance on this planet which is of utmost significance in our difficult instances via how she explores existential themes revolving round mortality, identification, the seek for which means, and authenticity.
•• ••
Stream: ‘Memento’ – Emma
In the Vogue Lifetime of Milano’s Brera
When one initially arrives in Milano whether or not by air or practice, there’s a rush of emotions as to arriving within the style capitol of the world, however the shock is that this metropolis of goals is just not readily obvious as it’s must be uncovered.
My uncovering occurred once I arrived into the Brera space in Milano — I used to be instantly in awe of its illustrious structure and lens on life with couture outlets on the rife and delightful folks consuming pink wine on avenue cafes within the cool winter mild as they lounged in sun shades and plentiful winter coats. This stunning atmosphere led me to replicate on my life in a wierd approach that was framed via Emma Marrone’s most up-to-date album SOUVENIR as her songs pierced the out of doors bars and evening air. The strangeness that I felt revolved round a sense that I had walked these streets earlier than although I had by no means visited this space in Milano in my life.
For 48 hours, I inhabited a sense of déjà vu the place folks I noticed on the streets jogged my memory of the shadows of previous lovers, and even the sidewalks appeared to bear my earlier footprints. I used to be struck throughout the nostalgia of a earlier life as Emma’s album enabled me to revisit these frames of reminiscence with intense types of recollection. Whereas strolling from our condo to the Duomo, I used to be in awe of the wondrous structure amidst the fleeting glimpses of exceptional human magnificence that astounds.
We sauntered into the breathtaking Milano Starbucks, and slightly than a espresso, we relished a pleasant Italian Prosecco as we basked within the out of doors heaters with essentially the most unbelievable view onto the roundabout. Town of Milano in winter is haunted with a superb sense of darkish heat which solely invitations luxuriating in its streets and bars because the shuffle of magnificence passes earlier than your eyes as one inhabits Marrone’s imaginative and prescient.
* * *
In the Historic Piazza of Firenze
In Firenze’s Piazza della Signoria, I used to be surrounded by essentially the most vital statues which were created in Western artwork, and amidst these unbelievable renderings that had been cast from nothing is essentially the most unbelievable monument that we’re nothing unto our personal selves. I felt a way of dissipation of my very own self between these monuments, as I spotted that my very personal breath was fleeting in each second.
In that twilight, I sat with my lover within the golden winter evening as we sipped our Prosecchi in our descent into the darkness because the sound of Emma’s album liberated our souls from their tethers. We walked from the piazza and over the notorious Ponte de Vecchio and have become misplaced in the dead of night vie of Firenze, whereas we later ambled again to our lodge to sit down on the illustrious balcony whereas consuming our Nero di Avola within the hovering midnight sky.
It nearly felt like I may reside endlessly so long as Italian wine coursed via my veins in lifting my consciousness to different worlds of recognition. The simultaneous expertise of listening to Emma and consuming Nero spurred a chrysalis of turning into into the world in new methods.
On the Canals of Venezia
We stayed in Venezia for weeks each winter because it had turn out to be a deep and ordinary vacation spot for the final 4 years because it was nothing like on earth to be immersed in lagoon life inside its limitless darkened corridors which all the time lent a glimpse to essentially the most wonderful blood pink sky on the open Adriatic Sea as we coasted on the vaporetto.
The expertise of Venezia was not solely this illustrious expertise, it was inside discovering and inhabiting the native haunts which had been far faraway from the touristic machinations or certainly maybe in that midst however unrecognized. One such place is the unmistakable Tiziano Snack Bar which doesn’t appear to be a lot characteristically, but when one will get to know and spend time with Pepe this place turns into to be like your individual residence. It’s a native hang-out that captures the great dwelling histories of cross-generational life that set this bar aside from all others in Venezia.
One of many oldest wine bars of Venezia is Enoteca al Volto, established in 1936, very near the Rialto bridge within the hidden and darkish Calle Cavalli, and it’s a place that we regularly discovered ourselves within the late afternoon with 1 / 4 liter of Prosecco and maybe one or two quarter liters of pink wine as we sat enveloped in darkness on this Calle with locals and questioned on the unbelievable expertise of being alive on this exact second.
On one specific night final December, we couldn’t beat the winter chill and hunkered inside for pink wine and we had been once more immersed within the kaleidoscopic imaginative and prescient of Emma’s Album throughout the hanging dim intimacy of the enoteca.
On any given evening we’d usually be hanging on the native bar Al Parlamento on the hidden aspect of Cannaregio whereas additionally all the time making our approach alongside the quite a few bars alongside Misericordia as we melded into Emma Marrone’s seek for which means via her songs which turned our existential quest for success within the vespers of the fog. I discovered my very own ephemeral sense of success via my non-public terrace on a canal in my condo in Dorsoduro the place Emma’s album turned the soundtrack of our sojourn as I imagined earlier lives and centuries via the night glimmers in my specific canal of the lagoon.
The expertise of being in Venezia is like nothing on earth particularly to dwelling throughout the hidden enclaves which might solely be found via one’s personal expertise that carve your house throughout the exceptional lagoon life.
* * *
All through my journey in Italia, Emma’s album was a touchstone of inspiration.
Her music enabled me to discover totally different textures of being alive with renewed ranges of perspective that had been deeply entrenched throughout the insatiable great thing about Italia – a magnificence that transpires via one’s pores and skin and thoughts.
Emma Marrone’s seventh studio LP Memento allows profound contemplation about one’s significance on this planet, which is of utmost significance in our difficult instances via how she explores existential themes revolving round mortality, identification, the seek for which means, and authenticity.
— —
:: stream/buy SOUVENIR right here ::
:: join with Emma right here ::
— —
— — — —
Hook up with Emma Marrone on
Fb, 𝕏, TikTok, Instagram
Uncover new music on Atwood Journal
© Bogdan “Chilldays” Plakov
an (prolonged) album by Emma