Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.40 06/02)
excerpts from an interview with Fabio Zuffanti (Bass, Guitar)
I don't think so. Hostsonaten will always be my solo project. Into Hostsonaten's music I put all my love for pastoral, acoustic and symphonic atmospheres without any restriction or problems. It's very hard to play Hostsonaten's music live, because it's very atmospheric and there's a lot of musicians involved in it. Anyway I think that this year I will do some Hostsonaten song live with my new project - on CD and in concert - La Maschera Di Cera.
In comparison to the previous works of Hostsonaten you didn't use on "Springsong" any vocals at all. Was this a decision right from the start?
I was very unhappy with my vocal parts on the other Hostsonaten CDs, so I decided to make just instrumental music with this project or find good voices for the future. Surely I will definitively not sing in the future :-)
What's the idea behind the fantastic artwork of the album and from where did you take the pictures?
It was an idea of Andrea Soncini of Sublime label, ex Iridea Records. He took the images from an ancient - from about the year 1400 - bible called "Bible of Borso D'este".
Looking back to the three releases of Hostsonaten so far, how would you compare them one by one and addtionally what do they mean to you personally?
I like "Springsong" very much - the best of the three works, I think - and the first Hostsonaten, because I think that the music and the atmosphere are very good and they satisfied me - apart from the recording sound of the first album. I don't like "Mirrorgames" very much because there were no good vocals part and the songs were very distant from the atmospheres that I like to insert in the Hostsonaten records.
The albums of Hostsonaten do all have more or less a connection to nature and the different seasons of the year. Should these albums be seen as a cycle or as an overall concept?
Yes, the first album and "Springsong" are the two parts of a four season concept. The first Hostsonaten, in particoular the suite with the same title, is dedicated to autumn and It's very melancholic. "Springsong", as the title says it, is dedicated to spring and there's more joy and a sense of rebirth in the songs. Surely in the future I will do other two albus dedicated to summer and winter. And this will be very very sad and depressive :-)))))
What's different in working with Hostsonaten in comparison to Finisterre and your other projects?
Finisterre, that now had stopped their activity, La Maschera Di Cera, Spazio and laZona are groups, Hostsonaten, Quadraphonic and Merlin are my solo projects. With the groups I work with other musicians and we combine our ideas, on Hostsonaten and on the other solo propjects the music comes all from only my ideas that I explain at the musicans and they play it as I want it.
How do you decide which musicians do participate in your projects and are any musicians you'd like to work with in future?
I like very much to work with musicians that understand in the best way my ideas and play them it with passion. In the future I would like to play with more classical musicians and try to insert classical instruments as trumpet, oboe, cello and other in my music.
Can you give a short overview over your other projects and bands?
La Maschera Di Cera: A project of classical italian progressive of the seventies. The CD will be out in May 2002 on Mellow records.
Finisterre: For now we had stopped to play music togheter. Maybe in the future we will try to do somethings together again, surely not in the next two years.
laZona: A psychedelic and post rock project in the direction of bands such as Mogwai or Godspeed You Black Emperor! At the moment we are serching for a label to publish our materials on a CD.
Quadraphonic: An electronic and experimental music project. The first Quadraphonic CD will be out in the next month on Mellow Records.
Spazio: An electronic pop project togheter with Boris Valle, ex-Finisterre. The music of Spazio is very similar to Stereolab and Air and at the moment we are recording our first CD.
Merlin: A rock opera based on the life and adventures of the famous magician written togheter with english lyricist Victoria Heward. A the moment me and Victoria are working on some new ideas for a new opera.
Hostsonaten: We had talk about this project on the interview.
For all other infos about my projects: http://digilander.iol.it/ZUFFANTIPROJECTS/
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 2002