Michele Bravi doesn’t stop at the surface. To understand his way of seeing things, a lengthy explanation of the title of the new album “You What Do You See When You Close Your Eyes” which will be released on Friday would be enough. To put it simply, we should start from a title that he discarded, palinopsia. TO”I rediscovered the essays of neurologist Oliver Sacks and I came across that term: it indicates the images that remain imprinted after closing the eyes, and Sacks reads it as a disorder, an attempt to repeat perception. Ultimately it’s like art that tries to crystallize life. Every song on the album comes from the imagination seen as a link between us and reality: here’s the concept.”
The album arrives three years after «The geography of the dark»: «I am not famous for being quick and moreover I had an artistic block. For 2 years I sat in front of a piano and it didn’t happenulla. I was convinced I couldn’t say anything anymore.” The unblocking came thanks to the wise man «The way of the artist» by Julia Cameron. «A writer friend recommended it to me: it’s a sort of course to reconnect with your inner artist in 12 weeks. So between letters written to myself and identifying with other professions I unblocked myself.”
In music there is no hunt for trendy sounds, despite Bravi having worked with producers linked to the trap and urban world: «I tried an almost cinematic approach, a rarefied sound to leave room for the listener’s imagination.” Bravi is often associated with songs with easy tears. «I like it when they consider me a snobbish and decadent poet, when they tell me “make us cry”: this is how “French Malumore” was born the idea of the duet with Carla Bruni. But I also have another side that ended up in “Italian Humor”: I laugh if I hear a raspberry or the word cu…».
He was 19 years old when he won “X Factor”, now that he is a judge on “Amici” he understands well the pressure that led an emerging artist like Sangiovanni to stop: “When at 20 they told me that I had failed it was as if they were talking about me and not about my record. Today, when kids who take part in a talent show are more exposed, the words and tone used with them are even more important.”
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