Naples-born Iuliano returns with a new album. After years of producing music for others, a relationship ending, and pandemic silence, he decided to return to himself. The result is “The Place,” a project about what happens when you stop running and finally stand still. A Berklee graduate, Independent Music Award winner, and creator of the hypnotic “Who Knows,” Iuliano knows how to find the balance between fragility and scale. His new album is cinematic indie-pop with electronic accents, where emotions register without unnecessary words.
Hi, Iuliano! It’s great that our readers will be able to get to know you “closer” – at a time when you’re going through a “hot season”, the long-awaited release of your album. How would you yourself describe this period – an inspiring chaos or a calculated madness?
It was chaos. Completely. And then, slowly, I started putting it together — shaping that chaos into a finished production. The album is the trace of that process.
I know that music has been your companion since early years. Who in your family was the first to “ignite” the flame of creativity in you – your mom, dad, or maybe that very song that made your feet unable to stop moving?
I can’t really say when music entered my life; it was so natural it was almost invisible. I just remember playing – inventing games over early 20th-century classical music, running, hiding, imagining. Music was always tied to creativity and feeling.
You have so many experiences behind you – studying at Berklee, traveling through Italy, Malaysia, and Thailand, and, as the Spaniards say, an “alma inquieta.” How do all these impressions inspire your music and the new project?
I didn’t travel to explore music – I traveled to explore cultures. And when you really encounter different cultures, you change. When you change, your music changes with you. The influences come naturally from experience, not intention.
Let’s talk about your new album, scheduled for release in the first trimester of this year. “The Place” – the title is concrete, but in my opinion a bit mysterious. Is it a real place, a metaphor, or something in between a map and the territory of your soul?
It’s much simpler than it sounds. The Place is me. It’s also a track on the album that I love deeply. In that song, “the place” becomes a metaphor for finally seeing a person — or yourself — for what they really are. That sense of interiority runs through the whole album, so the title became inevitable.
I’ve read that composers and musicians, when working on a new project, like to make little pranks and experiments. What kind of “pranks” or unexpected experiments appeared for you while working on “The Place”?
The real experiment was subtraction. Removing layers, removing certainty, letting things stay exposed. That was the risk.
Sometimes songs are like disobedient children — they don’t want to take their proper place in the album. Was there such a “disobedient” track on “The Place” that in the end became the favorite of the whole family… that is, of the album?
No. There was one, but we removed it easily because it didn’t share the same vibe. I believe an album has to be cohesive – otherwise it stops being an album and becomes just a collection of songs.
After a period of working on music for others in Asia, personal upheavals – including the end of a long relationship – rekindled your desire to create for yourself again. And “The Place” became an expression of that return. Aren’t you afraid your ex-partner will recognize herself in the songs?
Why should I be afraid? Writing music – like any real art – puts you in a strange place, where you can be completely naked without feeling embarrassed. It’s a good place to be. At that point, what you do is no longer a choice; it becomes inevitable.
Who is your “ideal listener” for this album – someone who seeks emotions, or someone who just wants to listen beautifully?
If someone is looking only for something “beautiful” in a classic sense, there are probably other albums that do that better. That doesn’t mean this record isn’t beautiful – but its natural position is emotion. Beauty follows emotion, not the other way around.
Music knows how to speak for itself, but sometimes one wishes it would also “move” – on screen, with images and motion. Will there be music videos or other visual projects for “The Place,” and how do you imagine their atmosphere?
Yes. Minimal, physical visuals. Imperfect. More atmosphere than narrative.
Are you already thinking about the next project, or do you want for now to exhale and enjoy the moment of “The Place” being released?
I have ideas, yes, but they don’t yet belong to a single coherent place. Some things lean toward minimalism, others toward songwriting. When one day I make a decision, I’ll let you know.
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