Italian singer-songwriter Maria Grazia Altea strips away the gloss of modern production on her latest single ‘Black Out’, delivering an intimate and strikingly intimate release shaped by observation, honesty and emotional connection.
Written and composed entirely by the artist herself, and recorded in a small studio in Tempio Pausania, Sardinia (the town where she grew up) ‘Black Out’ retains a wonderfully unvarnished character, with Benedetta Sotgiu overseeing production, engineering and mastering.
Drawing from a remarkably rich musical education that stretches from Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen and The Velvet Underground to Portishead, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave and Patti Smith, she nevertheless avoids simply retracing her influences. Throughout, she turns her attention towards the fleeting nature of everyday existence and the experiences we might recognise within ourselves.
Her philosophy is perhaps best captured by the thought that “the present fast becomes past.” It gives ‘Black Out’ its underlying poignancy that life moves quickly, moments disappear, and sometimes the most powerful songwriting comes from simply noticing them before they’re gone.