AudioZona On the Making Of “1c4r0”
What was the creative process like for this particular song?
We had a raw idea coming from some Sandro's sound experiments. It was very basic and needed a context to be refined. Everything became clear when we got news about "Neuralink", a company by Elon Musk. There were news about a chip implanted into a man's brain and this man was able to move a mouse pointer just thinking to do that. This thing was the inspiration giving us the drive to complete and finish the song. Adriano wrote the lyrics and then we started working on finishing the song. We discussed about the human and social consequences of this technology and we realized that this think was a turning point for mankind. Another turning point. We don't know when but we know it will happen that people will have neural implants and all this will be seen as "normal". Then we thought about Icarus's legend. He built wings together with Dedalus, his father, and then tried to fly higher and higher until the sun burned his wings and he fell down into the sea. We think mankind is doing like Icarus, trying to fly higher and higher with technologies, challenging nature and some day it will happen nature (the sun) will burn mankind wings.
How does "1c4r0" fit into your overall artistic vision and what can listeners expect from you in the future?
All our songs are about existential questions. Our music and lyrics (they are strongly linked) are about how human beings deal with their nature, their inner being. Our lyrics are in Italian and we know they could be a little difficult to understand by a non italian speaker. “1c4r0” fits in our artistic vision as a representation of the need to be "better" by people. We think that "better" is not a real improvement of human nature. It's more a vision of human body as it was a machine that can be "boosted". Our artistic vision is about exploring all this and to describe how identity is a limit to human self-exploration.
What has been one of your most favorite memories along the path to making "1c4r0?"
The overall process is discussing social and philosophical topics to find the context and the meaning of the song. Technically speaking it's a song full of experiments like using a vocoder and analog/digital interfaces to drive synthesizers with the voice (at the end of the song you'll hear that).
How do you stay inspired and motivated to continue pushing boundaries in your art?
We have two main areas. 1, we always study and learn new musical theories and techniques. we experiment a lot with electronics and machines. 2, we talk and think a lot about esoteric thoughts, we study ancient philosophies and take inspiration from those concepts and ideas.
Where do you find inspiration for your songs or musical ideas?
We keep ourselves always updated by reading lots of news and science articles. Anything could trigger a new idea and a new song. all we need is to find something (sometimes just news on the television) falling inside the concepts we are into. We think awareness of identity is a gift nature gave us humans. At the same time, identity keeps us apart from our real and deep nature. Anything giving us a vision on this becomes inspiration.