AlbumRelease date:
23.02.2018

Federico Albanese

By the Deep Sea

Federico Albanese’s third album — his most ambitious to date and perhaps also his most serene — opens with a piece titled 682 Steps. It was inspired by a short path from his mother’s house to a rock by the sea, a place that resonates deeply within him. Why, he doesn’t say. A piece of music without words can still be intensely personal — and this collection is as intimate as they come. “I dissolve into it,” Albanese says, “translated into music.” A hint at its meaning lies in the album’s title: By the Deep Sea. “I imagine Lord Byron could have written his poem The Sea on that very rock,” he muses. Byron’s poem juxtaposes solitude with society, and celebrates the joy of wandering down unbeaten paths — a fitting prelude to this album’s central themes. Albanese, too, knows these emotional landscapes well. The album is a year’s worth of lived experience, captured in sound: “A year when many things happened, things that are hard to explain. These twelve pieces represent moments in my life that needed to be expressed. Some were joyful, others not. Music is my chosen language for the feelings I can barely grasp myself.” Since relocating to Berlin in 2012, Albanese hasn’t shied away from sharing some of what fuels his compositions. “Berlin is always present in the music,” he says. Tracks like Mauer Blues and Boardwalk evoke the city — its low, constant rumble of ideas and inspiration. The title track plays a central role, capturing the final moment of recognition — the distance one feels from their own deep sea. The record ends with The Cradle, written as his month-old son lay resting atop the piano. Still, he is careful not to impose his own narrative. “I'd much rather each listener explore their own thoughts and experiences.” By the Deep Sea offers many such invitations: from the gently swaying We Were There to the increasingly urgent Mauer Blues, the stirring Minor Revolt, the soothing The Cradle, the Reich-tinged Your Lunar Way and Boardwalk, the reflective Slow Within, the shimmering expanse of Veiled, and the magical Untold — a track unexpectedly reminiscent of Vini Reilly’s most fragile works — these compositions are elegantly crafted, deeply nuanced, and emotionally rich. Most of the pieces emerged from improvisation — many written while traveling, played on different pianos in various locations, and partly recorded along the way. Later, Albanese composed arrangements, some of them his most instrumentally lush to date. He is joined by ILLAY — whom he met at Bremen’s jazzahead! festival — and long-time collaborator Arthur Horning on cello, as well as violinist Simon Goff, who also assisted mixing engineer Francesco Donadello. Albanese himself — who produced the album — plays not only piano, but Rhodes, synthesizer, Hammond organ, electric, acoustic and bass guitar, and captured field recordings. “All my albums are personal in some way,” Albanese concludes, “but By the Deep Sea tells the story of an interior space, one buried deep within the self.” Without doubt, it is his most refined work to date — a body of music to lose oneself in, completely.