Jack Savoretti: “My love letter to Europe”

Jack Savoretti is afraid to say it out loud, but this year and a half was for him one of the most precious periods of his life because, in addition to living more closely his wife, three children and three dogs, he had the opportunity to reflect on his music and understand which direction he wanted to go. “Staying at home with my family for such a long time was a gift»Explains Savoretti in connection on Zoom, between one Anglicism and another. We should have seen each other in Portofino, the city he has most in his heart and from which he recorded two wonderful pieces on the piano at the first light of sunset, instead, to present Europiana, his latest album, the first since the pandemic, we have a virtual date.

“In this period I realized that being present is worth more than anything,” Jack resumes who, thanks to Europiana, has written a long love letter to European music for the past fifty years. “I don’t think I would have ever done it if it hadn’t been for the year we lived” resumes Savoretti who, during the lockdown, tried to travel closing his eyes, trying to “give a soundtrack to the vacation that I couldn’t have” .

Despite living in London and England’s gaze towards Europe, especially after Brexit, has changed profoundly, Savoretti explains that “we are culturally linked”, and this is precisely what the artist has committed to celebrate with this album. a little vintage but extremely romantic, full of hope and embellished by the chorus of children who for him are the antidote to the aggressive words that in recent months have arrived in homes all over the world thanks to television. Anticipated by the individual Who’s Hurting Who, Europiana, which arrives on June 25th, two years after the success of Singing to strangers, is an album that wants to make people dance, smile and remember. The title is, in fact, used by the artist precisely to enclose and tell the European romantic elegance and style, in particular that of Italy and France. of the sixties and seventies, and it is no coincidence that Savoretti has chosen to start his next live tour, theEuropiana Live in 2022, precisely from Italy. «My last two tours started from Italy: feeling the warmth of the Italian public is something incredible. In Italy, many doors slammed in my face: I couldn’t understand why nobody wanted to give me space ».

Browse gallery

The bond with our country, on the other hand, has ancient origins, and dates back to when Jack was baptized in Portofino, the only city in the world that feels like home: “During the war, my grandmother ended up on a mountain, while my grandfather, who was the leader of the partisans, had taken refuge in a nearby cave to give the British the signal as to where the Germans were positioned. My grandparents, even without knowing each other yet, spent the war very close. The more I travel, the more I realize that Portofino is a gem ». The 11 tracks of Europiana, who also involved his wife and children in the chorus of 3 songs, instead, Jack Savoretti recorded them in the studios of Abbey Road together with his historical band. “We had the opportunity to do it virtually, but I was quite stubborn: I was afraid the album might look like an imitation, but for me it was about perpetuating. At first I was not convinced that we were in the right state of mind, but when I talked to the band I immediately saw it charged: I’ve never seen it play like that, it was like freeing animals in their natural environment ».

Thanks to songs like Dancing In The Living Room, which tells of the nights you go home to your loved ones after a night out; Each and Every Moment, a song that invites you to abandon yourself to emotions and to fully enjoy every moment; is Calling Me Back To You, made together with Gizmo Varillas, Jack Savoretti composes one of his most successful and evocative albums, capable of touching emotional chords which, from nostalgia to the discovery of roots, seek a new way to restart and look to the future with more optimism. Exactly what we need most right now.