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Following the release of his debut solo album, ‘SIVE’, in June, Michele Ducci, former member of dance-pop duo M+A and and Hip Hop duo Santii, returned to the studio to tape some new live recordings of alternative versions of several tracks from ‘SIVE’, plus a few new songs, including his new single ‘It’s Hard to be Easily Loved’.
‘It’s Hard to be Easily Loved’ comes out 18th November (Monotreme Records) and is accompanied by a video of Ducci performing the song against an atmospheric backdrop of watercolour paintings created by Ducci and Letizia Mandolesi.
Says Ducci, “I was improvising with the nylon guitar while it was raining and slowly ‘It’s Hard to Be Easily Loved‘ began to form. It’s the first song among other unpublished songs that I’m doing live and that will be released at the beginning of next year.
“Being loved or understood, at times, seems to work like those strange crossings that are the changes of the season, or like falling asleep. It can be very difficult and seems to happen, if it happens and when it happens, out of time. So every expectation appears to be a useless expense. A nylon and paw-legged organ song came out of it that reminds me of the yellow fog that makes the pareidoly of a cat in the poem The Love Song of A.J. Prufrock by T.S. Eliot:
“Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.”
I love the use of space on this track which is sparingly punctuated by soft reverberating strings and subtle keyboards. From Michele Ducci’s rich, soft timbre and Letizia Mandolesi’s dreamy lifting accents, ‘It’s Hard to be Easily Loved’ conjures a jazz-hued languid warmth that could melt the edges of an early morning frost. A beautifully crafted song, it’s also our Song of the Day.
Michele Ducci live dates:
27/11 – Milan (IT) at Germi
29/11 – Bologna (IT) at Efesto House
https://www.instagram.com/michele_ducci
Credits:
Recorded on tape at Ondeleone studio in Forli, Italy
Michele Ducci: vocals, guitar, keyboards
Letizia Mandolesi: vocals, keyboards
Sound Engineer: Franco Naddei
Master: Giovanni Versari
Cover art and video: Letizia Michele
All songs written by Michele Ducci
“It’s Hard to be Easily Loved” is out 18th November via Monotreme Records.
