This is a concept album about a geographic location, the place where I grew up.
Every song represents a line in the grid.
Seven songs for 7 lines for 7 episodes of life in a small area during the transition from childhood to adulthood.
1. Ciliegio
2. Consider This
3. Crafty Man
4. Morning Flowers
5. It Never Comes to an End
6. Zenzero
7. Sleepless
Filippo Barizza – vocals and guitar
Stefano Pavanati – production, guitars, bass, melodica, drums, backing vocals
Maria Robaey – violin
Antonio Noventa – piano
Nicola Brunelli – piano
Francesco Franz Fabiano – mastering
Francesca Schivazappa – cover and artwork
1. Ciliegio
Cherry trees have always been part of my life. I feel fortunate to have grown up surrounded by the massive trees my grandfather planted fifty years before I was born. I spent countless days—through every spring, summer, autumn, and winter—in their company. I still remember embracing their trunks with my tiny arms, accidentally bruising their branches, or simply staring up at them on sunny days. Nothing is meant to last forever, and my beloved trees were no exception. Over the years, they all fell; one by one, thunderstorms swept through the countryside and took them down. They never recovered, but I like to imagine they didn’t truly leave the earth. Instead, they were transported somewhere new, where they can offer their shade and freshness to a new generation of children.
2. Consider This
The lyrics originated from a letter intended for a friend that was never actually sent. While the music was written in about ten minutes, it waited over a decade to finally find its way into a studio. It remains the only song of mine that hasn’t changed at all over the years. At the time, I was obsessed with the music of Red House Painters; I wanted both the melody and the lyrics to feel just as raw and confessional as their work.
3. Crafty Man
My first job interviews were surreal. At the time, recruiters would contact fresh graduates like me for group interviews. These recruiters were top salesmen with massive egos—truly some of the most self-centered people I’ve ever met. Their goal was simply to find versions of themselves. You were expected to believe in them blindly and “sell yourself” to reach the top. It felt like a bizarre, cult-like hierarchy, and I knew I would never fit into that corporate structure. When I wrote the lyrics, I had the film Magnolia in mind; Tom Cruise’s character, the motivational speaker Frank Mackey, was the perfect embodiment of a “Crafty Man.”
4. Morning Flowers
This song draws from several inspirations. One is the memory of my grandfather, who passed away when I was six. I remember how he would wake up at dawn to walk through the countryside. Years later, I walk that same path for the same distance, remembering him every time I do. Another inspiration is Zenzero, a guinea pig who shared the same name as the song. Zenzero’s life was short; he didn’t have time to fully “bloom.” We buried him in the countryside in a box filled with flowers, right along the path where I walk. A year later, I noticed flowers blooming in the exact spot where we laid him to rest. Now, every year, the flowers buried with him find their way back to the surface to bloom again.
5. It Never Comes to an End
This track is about the kind of restless wishful thinking that can only be satisfied through the imagination. When I wrote it, social media didn’t exist; you discovered the world by turning the pages of books, travel guides, and magazines. I remember the awe I felt finally visiting Ireland, Berlin, and France—finally touching the places I had dreamed of for years in my bedroom. In those moments, it felt as though the wonder would never end.
6. Zenzero
Zenzero was the small guinea pig who inspired Morning Flowers. My friend Melissa asked if she could bring Zenzero’s body, placed in a small box of flowers, to the countryside to be buried so he could be surrounded by nature forever. I dug the grave deep, ensuring the flowers in his box were well-covered. A year later, in late spring, I was walking and noticed something catching my eye amidst the growing grass. Flowers were blooming in the precise spot where Zenzero was buried. Now, no matter what happens, Zenzero’s flowers return to bloom every year.
7. Sleepless
The final line of the song is about the sense of displacement I felt after graduating and struggling to find work. I often compare my experience in the Internet age to the post-WWII economic boom my father lived through. He began his career during the peak of the 1960s Italian “miracle,” whereas I began mine at the start of a long series of global crises. I wanted to talk to my father about these feelings, but I never did. Instead, I imagined the conversation, and the lyrics flowed naturally from there.