New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The contrast of darkness and light is a constant referent on Cammarata's latest album Of Shadows, produced by Dani Castelar (Paolo Nutini, Editors, REM) and released on 800A/Kartel Music Group and Haldern Pop Recordings in November 2017, and the music video for "You've Been On My Mind" delves even deeper into those themes.
Shot in in the attic of an abandoned 18th century palace in Palermo, now in the process of being renovated, the location's own history fits perfectly with the song itself: an exploration of how past and present might co-exist, memories skirting the edges of the frame like silhouettes. Watch the "You've Been On My Mind" video below:
Directed and edited by Palmeritan Alois Previtera, the video's almost monochromatic feel intentionally reflects the emotional toll of missing the person you long to be with most. Previtera elaborates: "If you're missing somebody of extreme importance to you, the world seems to fall apart, the colours bleach out and the memories find their dimension in some place between awake and dreaming..."
In keeping with Cammarata's flair for an emotional crescendo, the song's story twists and turns as the narrative unfolds. "In this imaginary movie that is Of Shadows, this fourth track would be the turning point, where the story (and the main character) changes polarity," the artist explains. "Like the murder scene in "Crime and Punishment", you begin to doubt whether you're still rooting for that character or not."
"During the album's first three songs, the narrator has been digging into his own shadows. Suddenly he asks: 'If you look into your shadows, what will you find?'He pulls out of the song and relates directly to the listener. As in a theatrical dialogue, I tried to project the idea of him being the actual cause of the listener's shadows."
In this respect, "A Case of You" feels like a natural segue to "You've Been On Mind", in terms of both its stripped-back songwriting and emotional ballast. Joni Mitchell's hymn to lost love remains timeless, and for Cammarata, it's a song which allows him to further detail the intricacies of presence and absence; that which remains in light, and that which is lost to the dark.
"Joni Mitchell is like home to me, when I forget where home is," Cammarata admits. "It's familiar, like a relative's voice that you've been used to hearing ever since; a book you've already read, but which you still put into your backpack, because you know it'll warm your heart when you're seven time zones away and your beloved one will be sleeping."
For a musician who travels as much as Cammarata does, these things are important. Fabrizio Cammarata has further concerts scheduled all over Europe, the US and Canada, continuing the busy live activity that has taken him all over Europe, performing with the likes of Lucinda Williams, This is the Kit, the Dears, Emilíana Torrini and Justin Nozuka.
While "You've Been On My Mind" and "A Case of You" pull at different strands, both share a lovelorn connection: the sense of familiarity that presides between two people, even as the shadows begin to lengthen.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT: www.fabriziocammarata.com
