Songs For Eternal Lovers is the new album by Tin Woodman via Retro Vox Records, led by the singles Tropicalia Woodie Resort, Lovers, Roverbot, Starship and Gamma Ray Chewingum.
The “songs for eternal lovers” contained in the second full length record of the Italian project – formed by Simone Ferrari (Simon Diamond), Davide Chiari (Dave The Wave) and obviously Tin Woodman, the robot landed from the secret city of Wautah in order to become a rock star – are twelve indie pop-rock shots for a journey that explodes as many blows to the heart.
Looking both at sound landmarks of the past and at current contaminations, in a return to the future from the Beatles to Run The Jewels, Songs For Eternal Lovers is as eclectic as it is catchy, and hides a great work of songwriting, arrangement and finally of “synthesis”. It is thanks to a long work in progress that the record, despite its compactness, has turned into a mine of potential killer singles of those that are hard to find nowadays.
Songs For Eternal Lovers is a sort of retro-futuristic amusement park where Tin Woodman partially left their vaporwave mood to increase the glam elements and achieve completely new results. According to them, “The empathy between harmonies and lyrics had never come out so well from our songs. We have put together many influences but above all we have experimented with personal ideas that can only be traced back to us“.
On a conceptual level, everything revolves around love and its implications, its sins, troubles and wonders. But Songs For Eternal Lovers – the title is taken from the song Deezworld – is not a concept album in the most common sense of the term.
“There are songs that talk about the world seen by a robot through the most important events of the last century, puns that use the connection with the pop-culture of the 90s, tracks that tell about love – the excited one of the first dating and the one that fights against discrimination – between kisses and passionate bites in a real relational odyssey. This album is a single work of twelve songs, an authentic emotional vortex that could not be split into pieces”.
The new single Gamma Ray Chewingum features DELLERA (Afterhours, The Winstons) on choirs and bass. The song seems to come from the past of the darkest Swinging London to go towards psychedelic destination, driven by the listening of Soul Wax, Blonde Redhead and Django Django. DELLERA is one of the guests on a list that also includes Chiara Amalia Bernardini (KICK), Wawa Sané, a wind section (Dario Acerboni on sax, Luca Bonardi on trumpet and Davide Albrici on trombone) and three drummers: Emanuele Tosoni (HAN, Giungla), Michele Marelli (Bugo, Pink Holy Days) and Matteo Arici (Plan de Fuga).
The other singles already taken from the album are Tropicalia Woodie Resort (a glam-pop party song dedicated to the celebration of LGBTQIA+ rights and to the freedom of choice), Lovers (a garage-rap hymn to love and artistic empathy supported by a video shot by Marco Jeannin full of many guests) and Roverbot (a bittersweet r&b ballad for soft-hearted androids, dedicated to the description of loneliness, that takes inspiration from the Bristol trip hop scene of the 90s and from an elegant pro-Britpop romanticism).
In addition to Starship (with a video directed always by Jeannin), a warm and kaleidoscopic trip for brave souls, those who are most able to see far away: here, the peacefulness of the English rock bands of the early 70s undergoes a metamorphosis projecting itself into an interplanetary setting.
Among the other songs in the tracklist, there are the dream-hip hop of 1989, the synth-explosion of Supercar, the sparkling uptempo of U Know U Want It and the fairytale lyricism for the marginalized of the aforementioned Deezworld. Songs For Eternal Lovers follows the debut EP Metal Sexual Toy Boy and the first album Azkadellia, both released by Bello Records between 2017 and 2018.
Simon Diamond and Dave The Wave have always been engaged in long tours, in the most important Italian clubs, also supporting colleagues such as Public Service Broadcasting and The Last Internationale, and are ready to present a whole new live set, and Tin Woodman, the world’s only on-stage music-making robot, is getting revamped, with a new feature upgrade covering lights and movements.
Songs For Eternal Lovers was recorded between the summer and autumn of 2020 at La Buca Recording Club in Montichiari (Brescia), renowned for its analog sound. The album was recorded and mixed by Simone Piccinelli with the technical support of Gabriele Ponticiello. The production is by Davide Chiari (Centuries Reverb), while the mastering was handled by Daniele Salodini at the Woodpecker Mastering in Brescia. The artwork is by Nicola Mora.
Society is evolving, or at least it should. Tin Woodman, for sure, is evolving. Made in the darkest moment of the pandemic, Songs For Eternal Lovers is a love letter that spreads light and glitter in the form of songs. “Eternal lovers are the recipients to whom we dedicate our songs”.
Tell us about your story as an artist.
We are two different kinds of composers: most of the influences that inspired us to write these tunes lie at the intersection between what we have been discovering individually and what we have discovered together as well. Over the past 2 years we have found what we think could be the sole reason why we have kept writing and producing in the name of this robot, Tin Woodman. We have been fighting hard to deal with the whole pandemic situation: it has been a struggle, but also a new challenge that has made us question what we really need.
What do you think is the most important aspect of your life right now?
Music is more important than anything else to us – it is the only thing that can make us overcome fears and feelings of separation. All the songs in our album became plinths of the bridge to cross life’s troubled waters.
What makes this song special in your opinion?
We just thought it was irreplaceable for our album. This very song speaks to listeners using the same love signals we send to other people. This is how they feel our presence: we are here, listen to us. 1989 is a song of all the words we say to describe the magical moment when we meet someone special: these words will never express exactly what we want to say and they will never be enough to describe what we feel deep down inside. But they are what we need to tell the world what we think true love is.
What inspired this track?
It is a slow ballad influenced by the soft Motown grooves of the 70’s and hazy 90’s trip hop beats from Bristol. Tidal waves of Fender Rhodes sounds and all the reverbs and echoes of an acoustic upright piano… and a lonely storyteller in the middle of it all, walking along, following the rhythm.
Less is more, while Prince and Mac DeMarco are meeting up in a funky venue.
What are some of the core messages here?
You don’t have to wait for your true love to show you how to become a better person by following new paths together: you are the only one who has to understand the importance of holding you loved one’s hand. Only then can you set off on the journey to find true happiness.
How do you think tik tok and social media are contributing to change an artist’s career?
Our honest opinion is that virtual spaces like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram only seem to bring change and give results to people who base their mission on weak, short-lived and shallow principles. Our musical project uses these social media platforms as a means to reach the public more quickly – and nothing more. We prefer trying to live real experiences in the real world: this is our way to get the music we need.
What excites you about your life?
Dave’s hair, Simon’s mustache, analog gear, vintage LPs and all the cool stuff from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s… our beloved robot of course!
What are some of your core values as a human being?
Always finding a reason to enjoy life – our reason is making music!
What are your projects for this year?
We’re about to start our all-Italian tour after a long (unwanted) hiatus – and we could not be more excited. We can finally share the music we have been making. Our fans are itching to hear the new stuff, and we can’t wait for the rest of the world to hear what Tin Woodman is all about. We’re ready – are you?
