After more than three decades as a voice and pen of the Marlene Kuntz, Cristiano Godano continues his solo path with “Stands next to it “an album that confirms its stylistic figure between intense lyricism and evocative sounds.
Five years after his solo debut with I had lost my heart—You will enthusiasm from critics and brought on tour for over 200 dates – Guardano returns with a new job, written during Lockdown and produced with Luca Rossi.
Out of April 4th Stands next to it He will be presented live with the Guano Padano, a training that promises to enhance the atmospheres of the disc.
To seal the moment, the assignment of the Targa Gran Torino of the Buscaglione 2025 prize, a recognition to its impact on Italian music, which will collect March 28 at the Turin Supermarket Club.
We met him to talk about this new chapter, including inspirations, creative processes and reflections on the present.
The interview
The title of the album recalls a significant verse: “You are next to you because if we are together I can return”. How important is it to find yourself and how can the concept of “other” in relationships make sense of life?
“Stammi next to it” is a love song, but of a exhausted love, close to the end. Tells my sensations in that context. The image of being next to it also returns to “I will talk to you”. I think it's something I particularly tend to.
And perhaps today, in a world marked by anxiety and fear, the concept of being close assumes an even deeper meaning.The world is not experiencing its best time, war returns to daily speeches, and it is instinctive to think about a community of people aware of what is happening.
The hope, which also emerges in “yet I know”, becomes a wish for resistance against anguish. “
You mentioned “Yet I know”, a song that explores loneliness as a space of freedom. What value do you attribute to solitude?
I am a lonely by nature. I'm fine with myself and I refined the strategies to live this condition with satisfaction. But I'm not a misanthrope, nor a hermit. In good company I can also be light. “Yet I know” is a song that talks about hope as an engine to feel alive, but also has a dreamlike dimension, almost naive. I wrote it alone, like many others on the disc, and is the daughter of an intense inner reflection. “
The disc deals with the theme of love in multiple facets. Are you afraid of loving completely today?
Love remains for me a mystery. In my current disenchantment, I still find it enigmatic. I observe nature and see emotional interactions even between different species. There is something unfathomable in love, something that escapes us. Today perhaps you are more afraid of letting go completely, but authentic love always retains its irreducible strength. “
“I had lost my heart” he went out in 2020, in the full pandemic. “Stammi next to it” was born in the same context, but it seems to have a different light. Do you agree?
Yes, “I had lost my heart” was a gloomy album, marked by the anguish of those times. “Stammi next to it” was born shortly after the discovery of the vaccine, at a time when the china was trying to go up. I too, like everyone else, wanted to get out of that suspension. Intimacy, vulnerability and reflexivity are still there, but with a different attitude.
The sound is cleaner, more precise, near my references of the American and Italian songwriter. The evolution between the two discs reflects my mood in transformation. “
On the disc there is also a duet with Samuele Bersani in “Inside the wound”. How was this collaboration born?
I have great respect for Samuele. The theme of the song, the lucidity with which he addresses certain issues, made me think of him. His contribution was natural and functional to the piece. I hope the audience appreciates it. “
What kind of experience will the tour with the Guano Padano be?
Finally I will be able to play these pieces with a band, after my previous disc was presented almost only in a solitary version. The Guano Padano are extraordinary musicians and will be able to give a new life to the songs. It will be an emotion for me too. “
For the recordings of this album you went to the study of the üstmamò. How did the surrounding, both human and natural environment influence the final result of the album?
Curiously, with this album I anticipated an experience that then with Marlene I lived in the three residences for Karma Klima. I was already back from that approach. This album was recorded in a fantastic place, in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, where Luca Rossi, Ferretti, Zamboni live … the Humus of the CCCP and the üstmamò himself.
The period was particular: there was still the long wave of Covid, it came out carefully, perhaps with the masks still on. In that context, only in the morning I went around those places – I remember the river under the house where I slept – and I cannot deny that it influenced our attitude.
Luca already knew him, but for me it was a new, important experience, and he poured into the way of playing.
Let's talk about the sound. You called it “elegant and at the same time light”. How did this sound research take place?
More than a research, it was the outcome of my personal maturation, shared with Luca, a musician of great sensitivity. We mixed our sensitivity, making the songwriting of the songs flourish, presented by me in their essence: guitar, voice, point. Then we developed together. The sound was born like this, from playing together.
We asked artificial intelligence to find the keywords of the disc. It has come out that they are: life, nothing, mine, you. Do you recognize you?
(Laughs) The words “life” and “nothing” are emblematic. It is interesting that he noticed “nothing” – evidently at that moment that perspective attracted me. But there is a dialectic, because there is “life” next to it. Then, you know, we musicians often use words like “mine”, “you”, as wedges to fill the lines and make them euphonic … I would not give too much weight to those.
What about artificial intelligence? What do you think, since we are there …
Bad. Net of the positive potential, if the IA was used by the forces of the good, it could solve many problems of humanity. But I have no confidence that it is used correctly. I am intimidated, and for now I am far away.
What is the final message you want to leave with “Stammi next”?
I like to think that this record has timeless beauty. It is not designed for streaming or to join contemporary sounds.
It is a pure album, and does not seek effects for effect because it is confident in music: perhaps for this reason, these days, it could almost appear alien.
It is a personal, intimate album, born from my need to express what I feel. If he manages to touch someone, he will have achieved his purpose.
The disc
- Stands next to it
- In air breath
- Inside the wound (feat. Samuele Bersani)
- Yet I know
- Praise instantly
- I am looking for nothing
- I'll talk to you
- Vacancy
The tour
The album will be presented live on tour by Cristiano Godano accompanied by Guano Padano, the super band made up of guitarist Alessandro “Asso” Stefana (Vinicio Capossela, Pj Harvey, Mike Patton, Micah P. Hinson, Calexico), by the bassist and double bass player Danilo Gallo (co -founder of the independent collective El Gallo Rojo Records) and by the drummer Zeno de Rossi (drummer of the year Jazz 2011).
Below are the first dates of the “Stammi next Tour” in the clubs:
April 8 at the Monk in Rome
April 12 at The Factory in Verona
April 13 at the Locomotiv of Bologna
April 16 at the Santeria Toscana 31 in Milan
April 17th at the Hiroshima Mon Amour in Turin
Click to buy tickets
Web & Social
www.instagram.com/cristianogano/
www.facebook.com/cristianoganoOFiatrica/
PH: Cristiano-Ganano_foto-di-Gabriella-Vaghini-2025
