Florentine band Beyond the Garden is ready to rumble! You might recognise these fresh under-20 faces from our September issue’s article “8 up-and-coming bands in Florence” and although just two months have passed from our last chat, the four youngsters are speeding up the pace and have finally announced the Florentine launch of their debut album “Bonfire”. We were able to savour a foretaste of their imminent release and all we can say is that it is a work of pure granite indie-wave beauty, where mature writing skills meet a hint of groovy over-the-topness able to work up even the laziest foot into a under-the-desk-tapping frenzy (As in my case).
We met up with guitarist Tommaso Andorlini who gave us the lowdown on everything we should know about Beyond the Garden’s music, hopes and music-making philosophy.
Are they already climbing up the slope of stardom?
Michelle Davis: Let’s start with your band name – it’s a bit of a play on languages. “Beyond the Garden” is the literal translation of the “Oltre il Giardino”, the Italian title for award-winning movie “Being There” starring Peter Sellers. When choosing your name, why did you opt for the translation of a translation?
Tommaso Andorlini: Being There would have been a perfect name, because we really want to “be there”, where the action is taking place. We had the feeling, however, that it is also fundamental to “be beyond”, peer over the treetops and touch the unknown. So we decided to use a little poetic licence.
MD: Let’s take it back to the start: Beyond the Garden was born in 2011. Tell us a bit about what has happened in these 5 years.
TA: We’re not that big on reminiscing – we like to live in the now. We met in highschool, played cover songs and took part in our first contests, honing our skills. In 2014 we won Controradio’s Rock Contest, a victory that definitely brought us and our music to a whole other level. I guess we could say that the fil rouge that ties the whole experience together is our strong friendship. It connects the past to the present and helps us cast our gaze towards the future.
MD: Your tastes have probably changed in time but certainly you have certain musical pillars that have profoundly shaped your unique style.
TA: We are now in a phase of eclectic listenings. Unlike the past, we have started to stray from our musical comfort zones. We’re not as stuck on indie any more. Contamination is key – we like to put our ears and perception to the test by exploring different genres. Chopin, Hip Hop, Techno Music, unknown singer-songwriters with 23 youtube views, tropical rhythms, world music… we’re expanding our horizons. If we had to pinpoint a decisive figure in our musical development, it would be a Manchester-based band called Wu Lyf. They had a strong impact on us, both lyric-wise and musically. They split up in 2012 and the singer, Ellery Roberts, went on to create musical project LUH. He’s an extremely versatile artist, a great inspiration to us all. We really managed to take off stylistically when we wandered away from our genre of reference, giving leeway to new possibilities and experimentation.
The album cover for the band’s debut “Bonfire”
MD: This Saturday you will be launching your first full-length album “Bonfire” at Florence’s music hub Glue Alternative Concept Space. Tell us a bit about this long-awaited debut.
TA: “Bonfire” is a sort of collection of 10 tracks written over a long timespan. This album gave us the chance to dig out and revive songs that we had left behind over the years, sealing them into one, coherent body of work. You could say that it was a bit like capturing the past 5 years in one click. “Bonfire” is a concept album. All songs are lyrically entwined, both metaphorically and narratively. There are three fundamental underlying unifying elements: nature, naturalness and silence. The story sees a boy (portrayed on the cover’s artwork) as he escapes from a despotic society, taking refuge with a woodland tribe. Song after song, however, the boy becomes a power-thirsty tyrant, recreating the same schemes he tried to evade from in the past.
MD: What do you think about Florence’s music scene?
TA: We think that more than the ambience itself, it’s people that make music by creating a network of good vibrations, sharing ideas and encouraging eachother. They are the catalyst. Florence can be quite contradictory at times but the people and relations that the scene has fostered resonate clearly. In the future, we would like to go even further, beyond our garden, beyond Italy.
MD: What should we expect from your Florentine album launch? Are you glad to be performing in your hometown?
TA: As we see it, every concert is wonderful and unique in its own and every time we play we are laying the foundation stone for even better future live sets. We’re very happy to play in Florence but also to hit the stage at Glue Alternative Concept Space for the first time. This is yet another chance for us to go Beyond the Garden.
