Europiana

Europiana

During the second half of 2020, Jack Savoretti entered Abbey Road Studios to record his seventh album. Lockdown had only just lifted, and adrenalin was running high. “Those 10 days were pretty intense,” the Oxfordshire-based singer-songwriter tells Apple Music. “It was 10 of the most emotional days I’ve ever had. I’ve never heard my band play the way they played on this record. And I think a lot of that has to do with releasing a bunch of animals from their cage, back into the wild.” The title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to a sound that draws on the last 60 years of European pop, calling back to Savoretti’s childhood spent living and holidaying in various parts of the Continent. He hopes it will be transportive for listeners, echoing music that spilled out of beachside bars and clubs on fondly remembered trips. “You’re supposed to visualize the Mediterranean, a different type of heat,” he says. “It’s not nitty gritty in Europe. It’s glamorous. It’s romantic. It’s sexy. The aspirations of Europeans are different. We don’t dream about pickup trucks and dusty roads. We have different aspirations, and this music shows that. Serge Gainsbourg, Julio Iglesias, Gipsy Kings, ABBA—they all show that.” Europiana may be informed by music of the past, but the album is unquestionably a record of its time. Written in Savoretti’s living room during lockdown, it revels in escapism. The songs celebrate common ground in an age bruised by isolation and divisiveness. “As Europeans, we can argue about political differences, economic differences,” he says. “But we can’t argue about cultural differences. We are culturally intertwined—in our literature, our music, our art—whether we like it or not. And I think it’s worth celebrating. In a very lighthearted way, that’s what I’m trying to do with this record.” Read on for his track-by-track guide to that celebration. “I Remember Us” “This was a result of being at home, the world being on pause, and leaving everything I am and everything my wife is at the door. It was about who we truly are. It was this little epiphany of, ‘Oh, now I remember why we’re here. Now I remember why we are so madly in love with each other. Now I remember why we chose to do this crazy thing that is life together.’ That set the tone for the whole record—it is nostalgic but it’s celebrating one’s past, not crying over it. There’s no tears in this album. It’s a lot of arms open.” “Secret Life” “I’m of the belief that everybody has three lives: their professional life, their personal life, and their secret life. Coming to terms with all those parts is the only way one comes to terms with oneself. Secret life doesn’t mean that you live it alone. You can live it with other people. It’s somebody coming to terms with themselves—it’s not somebody with regret. Musically, it’s the Giorgio Moroder tip of the hat: You thought you knew European music, but do you realize that this is a quintessentially European sound, too? Everything you’re hearing on The Weeknd, Dua Lipa—that’s influenced by European music.” “Who’s Hurting Who” “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, ‘Pass me the guitar: It’d be great to put some Nile Rodgers guitar here’—and how many times I’ve butchered attempting to be Nile Rodgers. I was writing with Mark Ralph, who’s a great songwriter, and he was like, ‘Why don’t we just ask Nile?’ He had worked with Nile in the past, so he had a hookup. But I was adamant about talking to Nile about this Europiana concept first—because Nile Rodgers has a lot to do with the way European music changed in the last 50, 60 years. He lived in Italy a long time. He played with a lot of European artists. And him and Chic brought disco music across the ocean to Europe. Having him on [the song] allowed me to have the courage to call it a concept album.” “When You’re Lonely” “This was an Instagram hookup where I might have drunk a little bit too much. I wrote to John Oates at 3 in the morning: ‘When are we going to work together, buddy?’ And he actually wrote back to me the next day: ‘I’d love to talk about some ideas. Here’s my number.’ We had such a hoot. He was awesome. His Italian background made him understand the whole thing I was talking about with Europiana. We found out we might even be related—his mom is from Sorrento, which is south of where I’m from. But also, he’s potentially the godfather of the godsister of my wife. When I asked him [to work on the song], it was to get him to sing, but he was like, ‘Do you mind if I just try giving a few swings at it on the guitar?’ So, he sent back amazing, different guitar parts.” “More Than Ever” “In all of my albums, I like there to be this one song where it’s like the narrator of the album turns to the audience and explains what’s going on. This should be the part of the show where I’m alone with the piano and a spotlight, explaining what Europiana is: ‘This is where I have accumulated all these experiences of this music’—going through that sort of nostalgic journey, and what was the soundtrack of my coming-of-age. And how I think it was the soundtrack to many of our coming-of-ages.” “Too Much History” “I wasn’t born in ’76, but [the lyric] ‘Dancing like it’s ’76’ is because I romanticize it. I romanticize that past. Because you make it always a little bit better than it actually might have been. ‘Perpetuate’ is the key word for this album. Rather than imitate, I really want to perpetuate all of those sounds from that time and make them relevant today.” “Dancing in the Living Room” “People have taken this as a lockdown song. It’s not. I mean, maybe subconsciously—there was a lot of dancing in my living room. But I wrote it with two really good friends of mine, Jon Green and Sam Dixon. We had spent the day writing another song, went out for dinner, and then we did the old ‘come back to mine for a nightcap.’ We were talking about how that is the best part of the night. I love the excitement of getting back to somebody’s house and getting into some good chat and putting on the music that you want.” “Each and Every Moment” “The night before [writing this], I had learned how to play ‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac. The first thing that it did was piss me off, because it’s written on two chords, and I couldn’t fathom that one of the greatest pop songs ever written was on two chords, just going back and forth. So, the next day, I sat down and I said, ‘I’m going to write a song with two chords today.’ And it just came out. I started singing about [excitement]. I think that excitement was actually me gushing over the fact that you could write a song over two chords. And I was having that same gushing feeling that you have when you’re like, ‘I think she likes me.’” “The Way You Said Goodbye” “It’s my Jacques Brel moment. It’s everything of French music that I’ve ever been obsessed with and in awe of, from Charles Aznavour to Yves Montand to Jacques Brel. That witty storytelling, almost throwaway, when you feel like it’s being made up on the spot. It’s the first song I wrote with my piano player Shannon Harris. I explained, ‘I want us like we’re in Paris. It’s full of smoke. What comes to your mind?’ He played me these chords and I just started crooning over it. I was kind of annoyingly almost dancing around my living room, doing hand gestures, like telling the story, raconteur-ing.” “Calling Me Back to You” “Gizmo [Varillas, Spain-born, Wales-raised singer-songwriter] is Europiana through and through. Europiana is not about the past. It’s very much due to the influence of the past but perpetuating rather than imitating. Gizmo was the perfect vessel to say, ‘Can you show how relevant it is today?’ We both sang about our love for Spain in this. Both of us have this love for the sea. That’s what we fundamentally talk about when we get together—how much we love where we come from. It’s really positive. It’s so easy to write a sad song, so hard to write happy tunes. And Gizmo is a craftsman when it comes to writing feel-good music.” “War of Words” “There is no greater sound of hope and optimism than children singing. My kids are singing on this because it’s a message of hope for the next [generation]: Stop trash-talking each other. This environment that we are in, everything is OK to say in a comment, stuff you would never say to somebody face-to-face. If you’re in a comment box, you’re allowed to be an a**hole. I think it’s something our generation created, because we’re like cavemen with this technology. But I already see my kids, who are nine and six, are so wise to it, so sort of, ‘Why would you be so horrible? Why are people like that?’ I think we’ve come out of a divisive phase the last four or five years with Brexit, with Trump. There’s been a lot of divisiveness and rhetoric. This album is completely the opposite.”

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