ANDREA BELLUCCI / MATTEO UGGERI FURTHER OPINIONS ABOUT DEATH
CD, 6-panel digisleeve, ltd. 200 copies
This is the second collaborative album between Matteo Uggeri (based in Milan) and Andrea Bellucci (from La Spezia). Their first work, "The Soundtrack of Your Secrets", was developed amid the well-known challenges of the pandemic, between 2020 and 2022. The last song of that album was titled “Opinions about Death”.
Afterward, Matteo faced an even more difficult period in his life, accompanying his mother through her final days after a long illness that had lasted since 2001. This second collaboration with Andrea - again built through the exchange of files over the internet - became a way for Matteo to navigate the emotional weight of this journey, which, despite its sorrow, was not devoid of other, more nuanced and brighter feelings.
The album is divided into four parts, each representing a phase of this experience—one that many can relate to: I - WAITING FOR DEATH, II - DEATH, III - AFTER DEATH AND MOURNING, IV - MONTHS AFTERWARD. Perhaps unexpectedly, most of the songs are uptempo and rather bright, though some, like Bianca Camera Ardente (White Funeral Chapel), take on a much darker tone.
Spanning over 74 minutes, the album gradually becomes more and more rarefied, leading up to its conclusion - and beyond - where Bellucci’s heart-wrenching piano notes meet Uggeri’s beats and field recordings, including a poignant sample of his daughter’s voice from her grandmother’s funeral.
The album is set for release in March 2025 on Silentes. Sadly, it arrives less than a month after Andrea’s father’s passing, lending it an even deeper significance for both its creators and its listeners.
CREDITS
Andrea Bellucci: piano, samples, loops, synths
Matteo Uggeri: beats, samples, rhythms, random drums
Giulia Calabrese: speech on 1
Sarmax: bass on 1, 2, 4, 7, 10 and 11
Fhievel: abstract sounds on 3
Filippo Mazzei: clarinet on 3
Alberto Carozzi: bass on 9
Andrea Serrapiglio: cello on 2, 3, 7, 8, 10 and 11
Franz Krostopovic: violin on 1, 4 and viola on 7
Olivia Uggeri: funeral speech on 4, telephone speech on 6
Gaia Margutti: text on 4
Mixed by Matteo Uggeri in 2022
Mastered by Andrea Bellucci in 2024
Photos by Olivia Uggeri; artwork by Matteo Uggeri
Special thanks to Dominic Appleton for proofreading
TITLES
PART I - WAITING FOR DEATH
All the Deaths of this Year
We Are Still Laughing in Spite of It All
Between Their Party and Your Death
PART II - DEATH
Bianca Camera Ardente
My Grief, My Way to Joy
PART III - AFTER DEATH AND MOURNING
Left Behind, Bewildered
Other People Mourning Drags Me Down
We Miss You, We all Really Miss You
PART IV - MONTHS AFTERWARDS
Empty Room
A Colder Awakening
This Grief Will Be Over, Believe Me
