Interview: Roberto Angelini and Rodrigo d'Erasmo: “The dominion of light” is a call to the arts!

There is an expressive urgency that crosses The dominion of lightthe latest project shared by Roberto Angelini and Rodrigo d'Erasmo.

Friends and musical partners for some time, already complicit in the refined tribute to Nick Drake (Pongmoon2005), the two artists return to collaborate with a work that is at the same time a sound gesture and aesthetic manifesto.

It is not just about music, but a real “call to the arts”, also welcomed by the unmistakable pictorial sign of Gianluigi Toccafondo, whose images envelop the vinyl and the book, expanding its vision.

In this encounter between sound and image a profound necessity is condensed: that of giving shape, today more than ever, to a sensitive, multidisciplinary and radically human narrative.

The intent behind the dominion of the light is to stimulate a shared reflection on the concept of light, in the dark and frightening times that we find ourselves inhabited. The shared desire to turn on each one small light to illuminate the often dark roads we travel. With a torch, a lumen, a laser or a LED, a poetry, a short essay or a story, a painting, a violin melody or a swirling arpeggio of guitar, a drone of guitar slide or few, delicate and solitary piano notes “.

An instrumental music album, a sort of soundtrack of an imaginary film, imagined.
But also a book to which many authors and authors that we love and with whom we wanted to collaborate and confront each other have contributed. “

We met the two artists on the eve of the release of the album.

The interview

After years of collaboration and a long immersion in the universe of Nick Drake, your first unpublished project arrives on April 25. An instrumental album, an illustrated book, an artistic object. How did the light domination come about?

Rodrigo d'Erasmo: was born from the desire to collect our music in a format that was not only sound, but also visual, reflective, almost meditative. It is an album, of course, but it is also a book, a set of images, words, thoughts and visions. It is a project that has taken shape slowly, like a light that emerges from the dark.

Roberto Angelini: It is also born from a shared urgency: that of not being alone in the creative gesture. To involve other looks, other sensitivity, at a time when loneliness – even among artists – has become almost systemic. We wanted to create a small hearth, around which to be able to find yourself.

You talked about “imaginary film, imagined”. What kind of film is projected into the mind as you listen to this record?

Angelini: Perhaps a film speechless, or with words just whispered. A film made of internal landscapes, of dilated time, of expectations. The music were born like this: as soundtracks of moments that do not yet exist, but that everyone can fill with their own memories or dreams.

D'Erasmo: it's a journey. Each trace is a fragment of light, or a slit in the darkness. And as in the best films, even here the interpretation remains open. There is no plot, there is an atmosphere.

The title refers to Magritte, to the framework “The Empire of Light” where light and darkness coexist. How much did you inspire you?

D'Erasmo: a lot. That painting was an initial stimulus, a visual oxymoron that well represented the duality of our time. We shared the image with the authors and authors who participated in the book, as a trace. Like a lighthouse, in fact.

Angelini: Music also lives in that oxymoron. It is never completely clear or completely dark. It is in that border area, between dream and vigil, between hope and restlessness.

The book that accompanies the vinyl collects 19 contributions, including truly heterogeneous names: from Gemitaiz to Paolo Nori, from Vasco Brondi to an astronomer. How did you choose them?

D'Erasmo: by affinity, for love, by instinct. We launched an invitation: “Do you want to share a thought on light, inspiring you to music?”. And everyone replied in his own way, with different forms: poems, stories, reflections. Without any bond, if not that of authenticity.

Angelini: It was also a journey into the creativity of others. Some wrote starting from the songs, others only from the concept. We let ourselves be surprised. And the result is an unexpected and very powerful chorus.

And then there is the visual aspect, entrusted to the art of Gianluigi Toccafdo. Here too, an addition that transforms the object into something unique.

Angelini: Toccafondo was incredible. It was supposed to be a table, it became a world. His images seem to expand music, bring it to a dreamlike and fluid dimension, full of movement.

D'Erasmo: When he sent us the first tables we looked at each other and we said: “Ok, here is something bigger”. And from there the project has literally exploded. We decided to transform it into a book, into an experience to browse and listen to together.

Presented it on April 25, in a symbolic date. What does it mean for you?

Angelini: It's no coincidence. It has been a day that invites to memory, but also to light, to the rebirth. And in this dark time it seemed right to share something that tries to turn on a fire, even small, but authentic.

D'Erasmo: it is our way of celebrating creative freedom, the possibility of building ties, of turning on thoughts. The dominion of light is also this: a political, poetic, collective gesture.

Do you already have a way in mind to bring all this live? A tour? An installation?

D'Erasmo: we are thinking about hybrid formulas, closer to an experience than to a classic concert. Where words, images and sounds convinced. A bit like it happens in the project itself: a multidimensionality that we want to explore live.

Angelini: We don't want to “promote” a record. We want to share it, welcome it, live it together with the public. Maybe in unconventional places, where the threshold between art and life is more porous.

The book

This profound and necessary awareness did whether “the dominion of light” was not only an album but also a book that will be released together with the disc available in Supergatefold edition with 180 gr black LP and book.

The long list of authors and authors who have accepted Angelini and D'Erasmo's invitation to participate in this project contains musicians, writers, artists, philosophers, directors, actors, people who have been able to immediately grasp the spirit of “the dominion of light”.

Participated (in rigorous alphabetical order):

Federico Baldi
Sandro Bonvissuto
Vasco Brondi
Ilaria Caffio
Giulia Caminito
Thomas of God
Enrico Gabrielli
Chiara Gamberale
Gemitaiz
Vittorio Lingiardi
Francesca Mannocchi
Flavia Mastrella
Paolo Nori
Greta Olivo
Fabio Peri
Telmo Pievani
Antonio Rezza
Filippo Timi
Emanuele Trevi

To these are added Marco Mottolese who signed the preface.

The meetings

The presentations will see Roberto Angelini and Rodrigo d'Erasmo play and tell “The dominion of light” with the extraordinary participation of some of the protagonists of the book accompanying the album.

This is the updated calendar:

April 26 Rome Pasolini Officina,
April 27 Naples Foqus
April 28 Taranto Spazorico,
April 29 Bari Nevermind Music Club,
13 May Bologna Frida in the park, Park of the Montagnola,
May 14 Florence Brac
May 16 Albenga (SV) on La Testa Festival,
May 17 Torino book hall,
June 22 Tuoro sul Trasim