With two successful albums already under his belt, Giuseppe Ottaviani just released his third studio album – Alma. Mention of his name alone and we already drift into an uplifting trance state of mind. His new album however takes a slightly different approach venturing more deep and opening up a side to him we are yet to see. The title alone is enough of a clue, “Alma” is a Spanish word which when translated to English means soul, and this is an indication of the thinking that went behind the production of this album. I’m sure he has put his soul into this album as he has done with the previous ones and if it’s anything to go, this new release will be equally blissful.
We caught up with the maestro and spoke to him about the album and the idea behind it. See what he had to say! :)
Rasalika – Firstly, congratulations on your third album release. You have indicated that with this album you’ve traveled back to your childhood memories, building on various genres and sounds you used to listen to. What made you dig deep to unleash this side of your talent?
Giuseppe – The idea behind this album was to bring the enthusiasm, emotions and spirit of a child into the older age. I’ve been inspired by watching my two little children growing and noticed how music marks each moment of their lives. This brought me back to when I was a little kid and remembered all different type of music I was listening to.
It’s hard to explain since it’s a personal feeling but there are many melodies and sounds that are strongly related to specific moments of my childhood. Especially with the instrumental tracks like ‘Primavera’ or ‘Alma’ or ‘Aurora’, if I close my eyes I can actually see and “smell” those moments, yes it’s a quite personal album this time.
Rasalika – The artists you’ve chosen to collaborate with bring a certain emotion to the track, was it difficult to find someone whom you thought could bring out the emotion you wanted your listeners to feel?
Giuseppe – Well I had a clear idea on which singer I wanted to have on my album and also a clear idea about other producers. In fact, since it’s a very personal album I didn’t want to have any collaboration with other producers, a part from Paul Van Dyk which is a different story, because I needed to have full control of the music in order to reflect the initial idea and feeling.
I was lucky enough to find amazing collaborators that really helped shaping those tracks the way I had in mind. But it’s on the instrumental tracks that you can hear my soul taking over. As I said before, tracks like Alma, Aurora and Primavera are very close to me.
Rasalika – You’ve chosen to work with Eric Lumiere again, he previously featured on “Magenta”, what draws you to his voice?
Giuseppe – I just love his voice, I generally love male voices more than female but it’s hard to find the right one, and when I do I hardly let it go
We also became good friends so it was natural to have him on board again, such a great talent and soul.
Rasalika – Childhood is a time of innocence and peacefulness, you’ve said you want to bring out the inner child in everyone who listens to your album. Did you children inspire you in any way?
Giuseppe – Yes absolutely, as I said before they were the main source of inspiration and the album is actually dedicated to them. The title ALMA is the amalgamation of the first two letters of my children’s names Alessandro & Matteto (Alma), this where the title comes from.
Rasalika – It’s always a chance when artists take a new perspective on the way they express themselves through music. Is there any other reason you wanted to branch out slightly in regards to your particular sound?
Giuseppe – I think you need to keep what you do exciting and doing the exact same thing over and over again it could become boring, for me at least. I love to experiment new ways and get influenced by other artists but I always try not to walk too far away from my sound. I usually say that changing your dress it won’t change who you are but it will make you look interesting and fresh every time. This is what I try to do with my music.
Rasalika – The process of every album is different, incorporating various emotions and techniques. How did this journey differ from the rest?
Giuseppe – I basically made this album in 1 month. I have created all the demos with just a piano and some strings and recorded a very basic idea of each track. After just a month all 15 tracks were already born. Next step was to choose the right artists to work with and contact them all. It took me over two years to turn those demos into a full production, but I’ve finally done it
Rasalika – You’ve chosen to include a few instrumental tracks rather than more vocal. Instrumental is known to take listeners on an uplifting journey, how did you first feel when you heard the final outcome of “Slow emotion”?
Giuseppe – Slow Emotion has a slightly different story. Despite the main melody was born together with the other album tracks, the real production was born as an exclusive track for my new Live 2.0 shows, something that would set my new show apart and indeed it worked out so well that it became a highlight of my shows, something people expect to hear from me every time and so I decided to make also a 2nd Slow Emotion track (simply called Slow Emotion 2) and include both tracks in the album. I really love them as they prove that bpm isn’t an issue and Trance can also be 110 bpm!
Rasalika – This album is sure to bring out the more emotional side of listeners and I’m sure I can say I speak on behalf of everyone that we are beyond excited to listen to this album. :)
Giuseppe – Thanks a lot and I really hope you’ll like it, at least I did the best I could and put my soul in it, and this is something that I can call “my album”.
You can purchase the album here.
