Tidigare i våras gav svenska bolaget Emotion ut en förlorad skatt. Det var amerikanen Fanuelles självbetitlade album som först släpptes 2005. Skivan remastrades, polerades och togs emot med öppna armar av en musikvärld blundat för New York-sonens naivistiska popmelodier för sju år sedan. Musiksiten Throwmeaway skrev hyllande om den och Fader kallade skivan ”unsettingly beautiful”. Samtidigt verkar ingen veta särskilt mycket om vem Fanuelle egentligen är. De flesta uppgifter slutar någonstans vid hans flyktiga efternamn, tillika artistnamn.
Jag körde därför 11 snabba till Fanuelle som levererade svar av kompakt poesi. Intervjun följer på engelska, dels för att undvika att Matts alla nyanser ska gå förlorade, dels för att jag inte orkar översätta.
So could you start of by telling me about Fanuelle. Who is he?
It's me. The story is that I record songs that I come up with and try to put them out for people to enjoy. But have to also work and stuff so I can live, eat, and purchase cigarettes. That's the simple story, as it always has been. (A pack of cigarettes in NYC is now $13.50, mind you.)
What has been some of your creative influences?
The main influences on my music are, I suppose, good music I have heard growing up. Mostly hard rock music though.
The album was first released back in 2005. Tell me about that. At what period of your life was it recorded?
That period in my life was extremely difficult actually, for different reasons. It's hard to say how a song would be different if it were done at a different time, even by one day. But it is an interesting question to ponder in general, hypothetically, about any action taken.
What's your relationship with those songs now?
I have many more (unreleased) songs which I think are vastly better than these, in varying degrees. But I still think they are extremely good, just not the "complete picture" really, but a good part of it.
How did you record the album and what did you want it to be?
I didn't "want" it to be anything, except maybe subconsciously. I find it very suspicious when people try to intellectually "engineer" their songs. Seems to miss the point. As to your questions of how I recorded it, each song is different, with one common factor: they are all written and recorded in under 24 hours. That was my rule at the time, but I relax this rule more and more each year.
Your music feels very stripped, based often on simple melodies. Tell me a little about your expression. How have you developed it?
Yes, simple melodies are good ... the best in fact. But I add complex orchestrations too (when I can), because, well, that's how I like music ... with a lot of interacting elements. I've never liked slow, bare-bones music. It's way too egotistical.
What do you strive for in your music?
Only to properly record the melodies and lyrics I come up with in my head. It's really as simple as that. Again, I don't understand it when musicians articulate some grand plan. It's music, plain and simple. The whole point of music is that it lies beyond talking, thinking, planning, ambition, intellect, and the crushing banality of real life.
Tell me about re-releasing the album. What made you want to do it and how did you feel about a small label in Sweden wanting to release it?
They asked me and I said yes. We had several funny back and forth emails and we decided we liked each other, so we just went forth. I think Sweden has always been a powerful force musically, so I liked what country they came from, and their personalities.
Last year you released music under the new alias, Nunzio Fattini. What made you move on to a new name?
I just didn't want to go under "Fanuelle" anymore, for various reasons. I wanted to start representing my Italian-American roots more, for some strange reason. I don't know why.
What are the main differences between the music of Nunzio Fattini and Fanuelle?
The lyrics are more complicated in Fattini I think, though Fanuelle's are good too. But really, I did not switch names to "write as a different character" or something pretentious and arty like that. It's both me, just different.
Your music was called “childish and tragically grown-up” by Fader. Would you say that is an accurate description?
It's funny they said that, it's sort of true. I like it. The one and only slogan I thought for my music, many years ago (when I thought one should have such a thing) was "children's music ... for adults". It's silly, but I felt like perhaps it described it somewhat: that is, a simplicity + complexity ... or something like that ... maybe.
Fanuelles album går att köpa via Emotion eller streama här:
