Palmaria are an Alt-Pop duo from a small town in Italy, currently residing in London. Members Giulia and Francesco have been making a name for their distinctive sound, poetically transporting listeners on a journey of dreamy landscapes and uplifting experiences. Think The xx meets Sylvan Esso, meets Little Dragon on a field trip to the Italian coast.
Their latest single “Ocean” is off of their upcoming EP, Crystallize. Co-written and produced with B-CROMA (Yendry, Fia Moon), the single stays true to their sound of delicate, hypnotizing vocals with a mix of organic sounds and utopian guitars. Taking sonic inspiration from the drums on James Blakes’ “You’re Too Precious”, the duo re-interpreted the sound through Francesco’s classical guitar.
The song is inspired by the legend of Colapesce, the magical story of a man that sacrifices his life on earth, turning into a fish to save his island, but also highlights the problem of the pollution of the ocean. “Ocean” is a call for help. The duo confides, “We wanted to give voice to our frustration; it’s been hurtful to see what is happening, especially growing up in a town almost surrounded by the sea. The ocean has always been such an important element in our lives, inspiring and healing us every time we were in need, so it’s now our turn, we have to protect it.”
What is the message behind your art?
We want our music to poetically transport the audience on a journey of dreamy landscapes and uplifting experiences. We write music to create a safe space for the listener and inspire creativity and kindness.
What are some sources of inspiration for your lyrics and storytelling?
We get inspired by many different things: landscapes, films and books, dreams and of course our own experiences. It’s good to stay open and find new opportunities and ways to be creative.
Who is an artist that you look up to more than others today?
Our recent favourite artists and inspiration are acts like Sylvan Esso, Little Dragon, The XX, Hiatus Kaiyote. In general, we get inspired by the atmosphere that the song creates and where it is able to transport us, which is also what we’re trying to achieve with our sound. These bands can somehow take us away with their melodies, sounds and words, to magical places. We also like the fact that they’re not following any precise industry rule or sound trend but instead they keep evolving; every release is a surprise and never a disappointment, that’s what’s really inspiring.
All time favorite record?
We’ll have to go with ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico’ – it’s an album that we literally consumed for months when we first met and started jamming together. It’s raw and delicate at the same time and has an ability to transport you to an amazing world.
Tell us about your latest release and how it came about
The song is inspired by the legend of Colapesce, the magical story of a man that sacrifices his life on earth, turning into a fish to save his island, but also highlights the problem of the pollution of the ocean. “Ocean” it’s a call for help. We wanted to give voice to our frustration; it’s been hurtful to see what is happening, especially growing up in a town almost surrounded by the sea. The ocean has always been such an important element in our lives, inspiring and healing us every time we were in need, so it’s now our turn, we have to protect it. We have started a collaboration with Ogyre, an innovative start up that aims to protect the Ocean by creating a sustainable and transparent chain to collect plastic from the Ocean through a network of fishermen and turn it into products.
You seem to be fusing several musical genres. What inspires your sound?
We combine elements of organic and electronic sounds, trying to craft our distinctive Alt Pop. We’re inspired by many different artists of different eras and areas: Contemporary R&B and Alt Pop but also Bossa Nova and Italian Singer Songwriters. We also started using sounds we record directly from the Nature that’s around us.
What excites you the most about what you do?
We feel very lucky to be able to share our music with so many people, both digitally and hopefully soon in real life again. The most exciting moment is always when you realize that a song you created is connecting you with someone on a very deep level.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
We want to continue creating Music, collaborating with many artists around the world and reaching many new music lovers. We see ourselves spending our time between London and Italy, and of course touring in between, but it would be nice to do that in a sustainable way.. surely we can make this happen in 5 years!
Your style is very original and elaborate. How do you take care of your aesthetics?
This is such a crucial part of our communication in today’s environment that we put a lot of effort in trying to expand and deliver our message with the way we present ourselves. We were very lucky to collaborate with Italian Fashion designer Barbara Bologna, who really help understand our own identity and bring it forward.
What was the most daunting moment in your career so far?
At the beginning of our career we were offere some contracts we really made a good call not to sign, which we’ll bring us to your next question.
What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
One that might not be very fashionable.. always get a lawyer to read a contract before signing!
Where do you think the next game changer will be in the music industry and entertainment scene?
The rise of independent artists is really changing the environment (for the better) and apparently NFTs are going to play a big part in this.
