Interview - SUBSONICA with “Augmented Reality” the guiding spirit is back

“Augmented Reality” is Subsonica’s tenth studio album, a return after five years that seals thirty years of sonic but also and above all human history.

It’s difficult to play in Subsonica – Samuel explains in the press conference – Subsonica is not just a band but an entity that appears the moment the five of us are together.
Making it appear at the beginning was much easier, it was simply enough to be close to each other and this sonic entity revealed itself.
Over time it became more and more difficult.
The personal vitality of each of us somehow got in the way.

We have reached the point where, after having gone through the pandemic which has distanced us so much, after each of us having made our own journey alone, we asked ourselves if this tenth album was necessary, if it was necessary for Subsonica to continue to tell themselves and to tell the world as they saw it.

At that moment – continues Samuel – when we asked ourselves the fateful question, all five of us realized that the absence of Subsonica, of this entity, could be a problem for all of us and therefore we decided to revive this guiding spirit and from there this album was born which I believe is one of Subsonica’s best albums.

Subsonica were needed by us and by the people.

The album was preceded by the singles “Pugno di Sabbia”, “Mattino di Luce” and “Adagio”, the latter part of the original soundtrack – written and composed by the band – of the film of the same name by Stefano Sollima, released in cinemas on December 14 and presented at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where the group was awarded the Soundtrack Stars Awards special prize.

“Augmented Reality” is an album of eleven songs written over 2023, which have absorbed a lot of reality in the sounds, rhythms and words. A reality whose effects have increased significantly in recent years. A reality that has locked us at home for months, revealing all the fragilities of a globalized present, which exposes us to extreme climatic effects, which has returned to shock us with wars and which knocks on our borders with a daily life full of misery, hope and despair. An “augmented reality” to which, paradoxically, we have begun to respond with growing disperception between denials, distorted readings, virtual escapes and lack of humanity. This “augmented reality” would seem to push us towards individual and individualistic isolation, rather than suggesting collective actions and responses, the only ones capable of protecting us since we have inhabited this planet.

The songs on the album zoom between pixels of everyday life and cosmic visions, between luminous energies and shadows, between present and future, always traveling on an enveloping rhythmic track.

THE COVER

The album cover is created by the designer and visual artist Marino Capitanio who describes the creative process as follows: “For the album cover I was inspired by the song “Africa on Mars”, creating a fusion between earthly roots and cosmic visions . In this intertwining, augmented reality becomes a metaphor for expansion beyond the boundaries of the imagination. It is a balance between the familiar and the unknown, between the tangible and the abstract.”

LISTEN TO THE RECORD

THE TOUR

There is always an elephant in the room which is the stage – he explains Max Casacci – We will never be able to give up what we feel on that stage, because we have always managed, in these thirty years, to defuse and abandon all personal issues who were there until a moment before going on stage. For this reason we can’t wait to get back on stage.

Next April they will be live on the stages of the main Italian arenas with SUBSONICA 2024 TOUR. The tour, produced by Live Nation, will start on 3 April from the PalaUnical in Mantua and continue on 4 April at the Forum Assago in Milan, on 6 April at the Zoppas Arena Conegliano (TV), on 8 April at the Palazzo dello Sport in Rome, on April 10th at the Unipol Arena in Bologna, April 11th at the Mandela Forum in Florence and closing on April 13th at the Inalpi Arena in Turin.

3 April – Mantua @ PalaUnical
4 April – Milan @ Mediolanum Forum
6 April – Conegliano (TV) @ Zoppas Arena
8 April – Rome @ Palazzo dello Sport
10 April – Bologna @ Unipol Arena
11 April – Florence @ Nelson Mandela Forum
13 April – Turin @ Pala Alpitour