name: En Velours Noir

genres: neo-classical, gothic, new wave, avant-garde rock, dark tango, jazz noir, soundtrack, theatre music

years active: 1998 / *2006 – 2012 / present

bio: During 1997 I felt the need to consign to the mass another foreshorten of my polyhedral artistic personality, spreading within the European gothic scene some songs which got into trouble the capacities of definition of many people, but on the other hand collected tons of encouraging consents even from persons accustomed to standard metal o rock structured songs, and surely being loved by all fans of Dead Can Dance or even Devil Doll sonorities.
After the unsuccessful attempt to work as band, En Velours Noir became a solo-project just some days before the recording of its first official work: an homonymous and heterogeneous work published in 1998 by Hiems Creations {the old domestic-label created by Luigi around ’96} initially in a strictly limited digipack cassette edition (an format conceived and artisanly realized by me) and then in a standard edition with elegant opaline coversleeve.
A release that has been recognized for its eclecticism, theatricality and avant-gard experimentalism: symphonic reinterpretations of classic gothic-rock, but without guitars, arabic ethnic singing, dark techno passages, french theatrical moments, jazz-fusions contaminations, etc.
Some months after I entered studio again for an experimental song {to insert in an underground limited cd-compilation entitled “Florilegium Insaniae”}: “Under a Still Sun Kiss”: song where cosmic sonorities and a languid singing (far away from my usual theatrical way of doing it) foundnd ideal completation in a soft and fairy-like Classic Music finale.
And surely was classic the following unpublished work (“Dans Les Fleurs de Velours Noir”) […]
The following months are dedicated – between a commitment with a musical project and another – to the composition of new songs which have been part of a limited digipack mcd entitled “Else”, lyrics of which face the anguishes behind the behaviour and concrete dialogue difficulties found in intimate relation for a man who badly relate himself with his ego and the social outward.
Then I continued the composition (started at the very beginning of this project) of Romantic music for grand piano, poetry reading and his official concept-full-length entitled “Thanaterotis Symposion”: a monumental nostalgic gothic musical which was supposed to mark definitively his career of avant-garde musician.
Unluckily with Summer ’03 I suffered the loss of all his music written during the last years, due to a crash of my PC motherboard. Personally I tried to get data back, but it was all in vain since a short-circuit burnt all what was connected to the mainboard, so both the hard-disks included (the backup one too as well).
After this frustrating loss I needed to express my InnerWorld through a completely different way, that didn’t make me think about what happened and so the idea of “La Danse Interdite”: an unusual concept work which represents a tribute to Tango Renaissance through the Contemporary Avant-garde musicians’ contribute, blending decadent sentimental lyrics (also including an adaptation for a poem written by P.P.Pasolini) – sung with an experimental / ill chansonnier approach to the voice – with music halfway Free Jazz and Classic Chamber Music with a touch of dark ambient and some peculiar Research contrivances such as the Estibillista presence or some polyrhythmic phrasings, often melting into sonorities peculiar to another deeply-rooted passion of mine: the Soundtracks. Badly recorded just like bad I felt for the above mentioned and other reasons, but an important step in my production and someone – the year was 2005 – talked about a new genre: the dark tango.

Part of these sonorities were echoed in the later work: “Dans Les Fleurs de Velours Noir”, which also presented a renewed, totally re-arranged version of the previously unpublished homonymous work I talked before.
For a few years my official musical activity stopped due to family reasons. I continued to compose but without spreading anything, till 2012, on the occasion of a series of charity initiatives that led me to face the project production with a different perspective, even more heterogeneous than the beginning and therefore stylistically conveyed in very different tracks sharing the inevitable spleen and a more intimate and chansonnier approach.

Part of these sonorities were echoed in the later work: “Dans Les Fleurs de Velours Noir”, which also presented a renewed, totally re-arranged version of the previously unpublished homonymous work I talked before.
For a few years my official musical activity stopped due to family reasons. I continued to compose but without spreading anything, till 2012, on the occasion of a series of charity initiatives that led me to face the project production with a different perspective, even more heterogeneous than the beginning and therefore stylistically conveyed in very different tracks sharing the inevitable spleen and a more intimate and chansonnier approach.