Info

category: CD album

label: Sugar/Universal Music

original release date: 2009

released in: Italy

artwork: Studio Convertino & Designers

photo: Veronique Vial/CPI

paintings: Andrea Vasco Finatti

Notes

“Heart” is Elisa's sixth album of unreleased songs. It is the follow-up studio release to “Pearl Days” that was originally released in 2004 (a collection of Elisa's greatest hits titled “Soundtrack '96-'06” was released in 2006).

The “Heart” album is a new beginning. It is an endpoint, but also a starting point. Elisa is ready to start again, and summons the energy and enthusiasm that recalls the energy from “Pipes & Flowers”. Nevertheless it reflects a more mature attitude, and paradoxically Elisa means to show it by working on simplicity, on the core of the song and the arrangement. The “Heart”, indeed.

It was a long journey made of over sixty songs to choose from, over 1,985 days of intense research. It was not easy to reduce such musical euphoria to one album comprising just ten tracks. It's a happy time for Elisa, evident by listening to the songs on “Heart”, where the singer likes to slow down and speed up the pace, to let go and dance and lead her band to a rock direction that she has clear in her mind. She wants to free her instinct. Easily. Naturally.

“Becoming a mother has been a great influence on this record. It made me be more spontaneous but also practical, no more rounds of words or thoughts. Such an approach has been adopted for all the songs. Less artist and more craftswoman. That's why I wanted to produce the record”. Elisa made this choice to have direct contact with her musical ideas, her lyrics and with the melodies as well.

"I needed to understand what actually belonged to “Heart” and what didn't, that which reflected my emotions. I've looked for songs that I had never completed and the more that time went on the more everything took shape”. This shape is encompassed in 14 tracks, including two duets, two songs in Italian and a cover.

"Setting up an album track listing means creating something like a wave, making the listening easy. The track order is very important to me." “Heart” features all of this. It starts with three differently flavored ballads, the pop oriented 'Vortexes', the international 'And All I Need' and the Italian and melodic 'Anche Se Non Trovi Le Parole'. Then Elisa calls the band; she needs them to start raising the bar, to let herself go through 'This Knot' (“I will search for a way to make it all so beautiful, I'm not afraid to untie this knot that makes me weak"). It seems to tone down with 'Mad World', a cover of Tears for Fears. She deviates from the original version, and was inspired by the remake made for the soundtrack to the film “Donnie Darko”. The approach is more rock. "I love cover songs, maybe it's something nostalgic, something belonging to my roots when I did piano bars. I learned so much back then. Playing and singing someone else's song was a good mind exercise. When I watched the movie 'Donnie Darko' I was struck by the acoustic version of 'Mad World' by composers Michael Andrews and Gary Jules.” “Ti Vorrei Sollevare”, the single featuring Giuliano Sangiorgi, is a song that Elisa wanted to give to Negramaro but instead it was turned into a beautiful duet, a marriage between instinct and reason. 'Your Manifesto' is a retro rock, between the '70s and '80s, with lots of Hammond organ near the end. Then Elisa takes a break and introduces one after another: 'Big Dipper', 'Someone To Love', 'Poems by God' and 'Coincidences'. All of them show different inspirations, but maintain a delicate approach to sound, at least until the twelfth track when 'Lisert', dedicated to her homeland, brings Elisa back to her rock roots. In 'Forgiveness' Elisa's voice melts with Antony Hegarty’s (Antony and the Johnsons). The result is an emotional and classy song that could easily close the album. But there is still room for “Dot In The Universe”, the last beat of "Heart".

"Heart" was recorded from January to September 2009 by Elisa, Andrea Rigonat and Davide Linzi at home, in the rehearsal studio and at Henry Stills Studio in Villesse and later by David Frazer, assisted by Emiliano Alborghetti at SugarmusicLab Studio in Carate Brianza and at Next Studio Officine Meccaniche in Milan. It was mastered by Emily Lazar and Joe Laporta at The Lodge in New York City. It is produced by Elisa and Andrea Rigonat. Management and executive producer: Elena Toffoli for Asile Srl.

Purchase this album

'HEART' is available for purchase at iTunes worldwide.