Singer Giorgio Poi breaks down the meaning behind the music on his new album, ‘Schegge’

0:12Hello and welcome to the Monaco Weekly. This time I speak with singer-songwriter Giorgio Poi. We discuss his fourth album, Chegue, a fitting soundtrack to Hot Summer Days. Here is Giorgio with more.

0:39Giorgio Poi, what a pleasure. Love your music. Thank you so much for coming in on this beautiful sunny day in London. Thanks for having me. Giorgio, first of all, can you tell us where you're from? I know you're from Italy, but I wonder if you can locate us where in Italy actually you're from. I was born in the north of Italy, in Piemonte, it's called. And then I moved to Tuscany when I was a child with my family. And I grew up in Rome. So I lived in Rome since I was eight until I was 20. And then I moved to London for seven years. And then I moved to Berlin for four years. And then I moved back to Italy in Bologna.

1:14I lived there for six years and I moved back to Rome two years ago. I love the Euro tour. And Bologna is a great town. Yeah, Bologna is beautiful. Yes, it's not too small, not too big. It's a great life there. I'm curious about your experience in London because you were fairly young, perhaps when you moved here in London. Was that where you kickstarted your music career or was it before? Yeah, I was 20 years old when I moved here. and I had just finished high school in Italy and I came here to study music. I studied at Guildhall School of Music and Drama at the Barbican Centre. I studied jazz guitar there and I started writing songs while I was here and I had a band for a few years here.

1:58It was called Vado in Mexico and we used to play around London every week. We played a lot, pubs mainly. What's your connection with France as well? Because I was reading your biography, I think Phoenix, which is this incredible band, you know, they loved your music from the beginning, right? So, I mean, that's a big deal, right? When Phoenix likes your music. Yeah, that came as a surprise because when I released my first album in Italian, I was expecting to reach only an Italian audience. But actually a few months after the album was released, I got a message from Phoenix saying they had heard my album and they liked it.

2:39and they wanted to meet me. So we met up with Branko, the guitar player, and we became very close, very good friends, and then they invited me to open their show in Milan, then they invited me to open for them in Paris and Lyon, and then they were playing five shows in New York City and five in Los Angeles, and I went there too. So I was kind of the opening act for those shows. That's a pretty big deal. How would you, you know, before we talk about the new album, which is excellent, and I want to actually know what the title means in Italian, but how would you describe your music? Because for me, there's always like a sunny component to it.

3:22You know, for me, it does match the vibes of a slow summer. But am I right or am I wrong? I guess you are. I mean, the sun has been part of my life for many years, except when I was living in London. and I was somehow I was in those years I was missing it I was I could feel this attraction towards summertime towards sunny places which I didn't have before I lived here actually and quite the opposite I was really attracted to gloomy weather and you always want the opposite of what you have I can totally relate being from Brazil I came with this idea then I've changed of course Yeah, you romanticize the rain, you romanticize the grayness.

4:09And it does have still, you know, like, I like it. But you get tired of it as well. As much as you get tired of the sun when it's too hot, you know, like the summertime in Italy is long and very hot. Yes. But yeah, there is for sure, I guess, a vibe, like a sunny vibe, maybe. I love it. Let's talk about the new album. First of all, correct me if I'm saying the title wrong. Is it Shege? It's skedje. Skedje. That sounds much better. How can we translate that? It means shards, basically. Yes. So when there is like an explosion, there's shards everywhere. And the idea is that we live inside of an explosion.

4:54Since the Big Bang, everything started to explode and it still is exploding. And we are in the middle of it and things happen. while we explode, we live our lives, we are born, we have kids of our own, we have friendships and relationships, and there's people we love, and many things happen in life. But I like the idea of, you know, I like the fact that we are all exploding together, and it kind of makes me feel like I'm part of something that is happening. That's fantastic. I want to ask you about perhaps some specific songs as well and what they mean. One of my favorite is Nelly to a Puccine.

5:50Beautiful. I think, to be honest, anything that relates to Assuming Pool kind of, I don't know, it makes me feel a bit dreamy about it. So what is this song about in particular? Well, the song actually is about the idea of swimming in a swimming pool is applied to a relationship. So like if there is a relationship that you swim in these waters that you know very well and they might feel comfortable and have just the right temperature. But maybe at some point you realize that you need some ocean around you and you decided to go. somewhere else and face the waves. Very interesting. So not necessarily sad, maybe just exploration.

6:39Yes, exactly. It's about exploration. And some, yeah, some swimming pools can look very peaceful and calm, but actually sometimes they hide some dangerous elements. Wow. And so you need to get away. Wow. That's the story of a film there as well. do you have a favorite song from the album that you would like to talk about? I also love another one related to the sea Dele Barque Transatlantic that's a really good one as well there's a lot of sea actually there's a lot of water you could say it's a liquid record somehow there isn't really a song that I like more than the others I like them all the same when I decide that I've reached a point where I'm satisfied and I'm happy with what I've done, then I love them all in the same way.

7:33But then I do get affected by what others like more. So sometimes I might think, maybe there is a song that at some point I thought, I think this is the strongest, this is great. Then maybe it gets a mild reaction from someone. And so I start thinking also, okay, maybe I didn't quite get to saying what I wanted to say. So the message didn't quite get through. But then maybe someone else tells me the opposite about that same song and then I change my mind again and I say, OK, then maybe there is something. So, yeah, it's a difficult relationship with songs that you've written and that you've loved and hated while you were in the process of working on them.

8:18Maybe there's this one called Un adgettivo, un verbo, una parola.

8:34which I quite like in these days. But then, yeah, maybe tomorrow there will be another one. Maybe tomorrow, yes. I'll ask you again. Yes, please. What about your music inspiration? Come from a beautiful, rich musical country as well, that is Italy. Which musicians from there perhaps you were influenced or what did you use to listen as a kid? Because Italy, oh my God, there's so many artists. I love, there's Mattia Bazar, Marcella Bell. I love that 80s vibes in Italy sometimes. But I wonder, who are some of your favorites? I guess growing up in my family, my parents were listening to Lucio Dalla, Lucio Battisti, Francesco De Gregori, Fabrizio D 'Andrea.

9:17These are considered to be classics. So they're like the classic singer-songwriters from Italy. And they are very good. They have very good lyrics and often very interesting harmonies as well, like harmonic movements. And yeah, I think they are great both musically and lyrically. Are you excited for the summer? I know you have quite a busy schedule of concerts. I was looking at your website. Will you be performing some songs from the new album? Yes, yes. Now it's, this is my fourth album so the show right now is a selection of, you know, what I've done in these years. You play Pommerigi? I play Pommerigi, yes.

10:01And we play the whole record, like the new album is, every song is there, is in the show. It's fresh, you know, like we want to play it. We haven't done it before so it's exciting for us. And finally, because you're at Monaco we're preparing, you know we're all about the summer here do you have any favorite summer spots in Italy? The one that's close to your heart where you go and chase the sun? Well usually I go to Monte Argentario in Tuscany my uncle has a small flat there so I've been going there for a few years and I quite like it but the seaside gets really busy in the summer in Italy so it's difficult.

10:42I would rather go there in the spring when there's less people fantastic Giorgio Poi grazie thank you so much thank you so much for chatting thanks

11:16Thank you very much, Giorgio. And Chegg is out now. The show was edited by Lily Austin and I am Fernando Augusto Pacheco.