Fil Bo Riva’s recently released album ‘Beautiful Sadness’ is a gorgeous journey through love and life. Marx Music had the opportunity to ask the Italian born Filippo Bonamici about the album and how it came to be.
MARX: The album, Beautiful Sadness is a collection of deeply emotive pieces. What was the catalyst for writing this album?
FIL BO RIVA: I always had the dream of having my own album, a collection of songs that put together would form something great, something that I could relate to 100%.
MARX: How long have you been writing this album?
FIL BO RIVA: We started working on the album on January 2017
MARX: Moving through the album it comes across like a journey through the highs and lows of love and life before reaching its peak of acceptance in the form of outro song Beautiful.
Comparatively, the album’s intro song Sadness is much slower than the album’s book-end Beautiful which is purely an instrumental piece. Is this song emblematic of reflection; a chance to absorb the album and reflect on the journey the songs have taken listeners on?
If not for the sake of reflection, why did you choose to end the album on an instrumental piece?
FIL BO RIVA: The Outro was written by Felix and recorded at his home. He showed me the track and I immediately found that it had something magical and that it would fit perfectly as the album outro. It surely is a piece of music that one should listen to after the whole album trip, to reflect and slowly soak in everything.
MARX: What is this album about in your own words?
FIL BO RIVA: The album is about love.
MARX: You’ve lived in so many different places; from Rome to Dublin to Berlin, each of which traditionally have different musical stylings to one another. How has your time moving and travelling shaped your own music?
FIL BO RIVA: Living in these different countries shaped my musical know-how in so many ways. All those different cultures really gave me everything. I’m pretty sure my music would sound extremely different if I wouldn’t have had these experiences.
MARX: Your music encompasses so many different styles and does not limit itself to a set genre. There are hints of the 60s, touches of the 70s as well as modern sounds all wrapped into one. What era do you relate to most and why? Is there are an artist from each that you look up to creatively?
FIL BO RIVA: That’s a tough question but I usually answer with: the 1960s and The Beatles.
MARX: L’impossible has Italian phrases intertwined throughout the song. The Italians speak in a very romantic way, would the meaning be lost if translated back to English? Did you set out to write a song in Italian or did L’impossible come to life organically?
FIL BO RIVA: I don’t think the meaning would be lost if translated in English, the song simply came to me while on holiday in Italy. The melody and the words somehow popped up in my mind and as I usually do; I recorded it and wrote everything down. It was surely inspired by Italy and the place where I was.
MARX: Which song do you hold most dear from the album?
FIL BO RIVA: At the moment it’s actually L’impossibile. The story behind it and the different sound scapes it brings, somehow combines all the songs we have on the album.
MARX: Your debut EP saw huge success, resulting in several sold-out tours and supporting numerous major artists such as Matt Corby and Milky Chance. How are you feeling about the upcoming European tour now promoting your own album?
FIL BO RIVA: It’s an incredible feeling – we’ve been waiting for this for a long, long time and now it’s finally here. So, we actually couldn’t be happier and more looking forward to it all.
MARX: Are there plans to take the tour across the seas and perform internationally?
FIL BO RIVA: We don’t really see any barriers for our music, in the end it’s up to the people who want to listen to it… hopefully it’s all gonna grow, so we would be more than happy to travel all the world and play our songs to everybody.
MARX: What are you hoping to do next once the tour wraps up?
FIL BO RIVA: No plans really, but probably work on music. Always.
Check out Fil Bo Riva’s song Go Rilla below.
