Info

category: CD album

label: Sugar/Warner Music Italia

original release date: 2010

released in: Italy / Internationally on iTunes

artwork: Studio Convertino & Designers

photo: Fabio Lovino

Notes

IVY, Elisa's seventh studio album was released on November 30, 2010 in Italy and on iTunes internationally.

Elisa eloquently and with great depth of meaning describes the heart of this project that is simply called IVY, in this way:

“There are things that remain inside, without our knowing why, things that belong to us, and at the same time we belong to them, things that make us who we are. The nature of songs can be this way too; they are a part of us. The songs of IVY are the songs that have been inside of me, in a place where they have existed in their essence and in their simplicity. This is the special place I have drawn from, and these are some of the songs which have settled down here with the passing of time. Their beauty and their power are similar to the emotions I find in nature: the power of simplicity, the power of harmony, sweetness and pureness... to me this is IVY.”

IVY is a project combining a CD + DVD, and licensed to Sugar Music. The CD features tracks in English, Italian and French. The DVD features a 50-minute documentary film, directed with scenes acquired from the Arte Sella Sculpture Park in Val di Sella, located a few kilometers southeast of Trentino, Italy, by Icelandic filmaker Denni Karlsson. The film stars Elisa, who describes through her music, notes and dialogue, the meaning of IVY. The heart of IVY: the title itself contains what Elisa meant to tell when she decided to assemble and record this project . In fact, just like an ivy plant which has no flowers, is evergreen, deep rooted in the ground, pushes high and takes possession of all that it embraces and touches, so each one of the songs from IVY tells about a fragment of real life, splinters of memories that remain alive in the mind. They refer to the past but are here in the present, revised under a different point of view that is more mature and enlightened.

“Nostalgia”, the first single from IVY, explains the direction that Elisa means to follow with this album. Its semi-acoustic arrangements are enriched with voices from a children's choir, and avail themselves of basic instruments such as the organ and the harmonium. Everything is analogic, without appealing to digital solutions. This makes the production clean, bright, and seductive, just like a cloth that was made to measure around Elisa's voice. Each detail was pursued and taken with great care. The words of the songs have been chosen not just for their meaning but also for their sound. Sometimes the sweet sound of them aims to dim the strength and deep meaning of the words themselves. In this way, “Nostalgia” is closer to a vibe of life and hope rather than to one of regret.

By featuring 17 tracks, the IVY album is Elisa's longest recording to date. The cover songs are Smashing Pumpkins' “1979”, Queens of the Stone Age's “I Never Came”, Camille's “Pour que l'amour me quitte” and Luciano Ligabue's “Ho messo via”. Special guests are Italian singer/songwriting Artist Giorgia and rapper Fabri Fibra. New songs are “Nostalgia”, “Some Time Ago” and “Fresh Air”. Ten songs were picked by Elisa from her previous recordings and are presented here all rearranged and undressed.

Elisa is once again the producer of this project and has obtained the talents of Mauro Pagani (who wrote and played the strings), Rita Marcotulli (who played the piano on “Fresh Air”), the talented and dedicated musicians of Elisa's band, plus Simone Bertolotti who plays the piano and the glockenspiel.

The album is just half of the project. A 50-minute documentary film is the other half. Denni Karlsson is the amazing and ingenious director/choreographer/photographer who was called to make this visual project possible. Val di Sella, a place of peace and beauty, was chosen as the location of the film. Elisa's live recordings complete the film. Thus you will see Elisa performing "Ti vorrei sollevare", "Fresh Air", "Some Time Ago", "It is what it is", "Gli ostacoli del cuore", "Lullaby", "Una poesia anche per te (Life goes on)", "Qualcosa che non c'è", "Eppure sentire (un senso di te)", "Nostalgia", "Forgiveness", and "Rainbow". Over the documentary Elisa talks about music, the album's songs, and the emotions that have characterized her artistic path. It is definitely the biographical journey throughout that makes IVY a wonderful opera to behold.