A journey into the intimate and magical world of Francesca Bono

A chat about Crumpled Canvas and beyond.

Nov 13, 2024

Francesca Bono’s solo album, out via WWNBB Collective, breathes and glows, pulsating with a unique energy, intertwining opaque ballads, motorik symmetries and delicate dream-blues scenarios between lonely anthems and rock experiments that sometimes reveal choral explosions, other times more elusive and personal nuances. «Do what you wish, in time. Do what you wish, it’s time», repeats Velvet Flickering Heart, the song that opens the album: it is an invocation, an appeal that echoes throughout this work, titled Crumpled Canvas.

I had the immense pleasure of chatting with Francesca, below is the complete interview.

After Bono/Burattini and Ofeliadorme comes this new project, this time solo. How is it to immerse yourself in this new reality? What vibrations does it evoke?

At first I felt excited and terrified at the same time, now I feel liberated, and though taking care of every stage in the making can be overwhelming at times, I’m much more confident in what I can offer as a musician, and I also think I’ve found a new “voice” and want to take it from here and go even further.
This album had to be recorded at a specific time, because Mick Harvey could only be in Bologna for a week (even though he then came back for a few days to further work with me and sound engineer Bruno Germano) and I was 8 months pregnant when we recorded it, so it also has this sense of urgeness and a rawness to it that helped me trust my gut. Improvisation and writing going smoothly hand in hand.
But behind it there was an awareness of going in a certain direction, I had the ambition to make a record that sounded out of time, even with its sonic references.

Why this title, Crumpled Canvas?

While working on the artwork and photography, the title of a Tina Modotti work I had seen in Genoa years before came to mind, and I looked through my notes and found something on that exhibition. A reference to the visual arts world seemed appropriate because my music, whether in song or instrumental format, always sets a kind of soundtrack for images, paintings, snapshots or imaginary movies. And since the record was recorded very
spontaneously, mainly live and without having every last detail under control, because I wanted it to be “imperfect” and “raw,” I thought that title fully reflected both the sonic counterpart and the artwork images.

What are the feelings, sensations, and moments led to the creation of the eight songs on the album?

Some of them where written on the spot, in a couple of hours, most of arrangements included. That’s the case for ‘Velvet Flickering Heart’, who stemmed from a casual strumming and messing around with effetcs and loops. Others, like ‘For D’, were older and composed on acoustic guitar. Then I left some room for experimentation and improvisation; for instance, ‘Bitten Tongue’ came out of an impro session, and later I edited it and improvised lyrics and synths on a drum/bass/guitar loop.
Mostly, I just let go of different feelings that were all mixed up in a stage of my life were amazing things and terrible things happened at the same time. I think there’s something compelling about the sweetness and the eeriness of many songs. I’m interested in the idea of challenging the listener, but I don’t do it on purpose.

What was it like working with Mick Harvey?

Honestly, it was great. After exchanging a few emails over a couple of years, we met in 2017 at a PJ Harvey show in Turin, where he kindly invited me to have dinner over with the crew, and then in 2019 I asked him for a feedback on a couple songs, and our collaboration sparked. He understood what I was looking for, and basically trusted my vision
and helped me along the way arranging beautiful keyboards parts. As he stated in a post on his social media: “I was engaged ostensibly as a “producer” but in my mind I arrived as an encourager and enabler. I scoped out the scene and it quickly became apparent there were plenty of capable and enthusiastic people involved so I slipped into my preferred role of collaborator and allowed Francesca to take the wheel - 8 months pregnant xD. I love making music with other people and I’m happy not to be the “boss”. So on this album I am playing mostly keyboards, I think, and was assisting with the production. We even managed to have my dear friend Alain Johannes mix the thing. All in all a lovely experience”

Listening and re-listening to the album, I heard many references to PJ Harvey, Hope Sandoval but also Tricky, Massive Attack and Portishead. What inspired you? What sounds did you want to bring out?

You’ve named artists and bands that I profoundly admire and that certainly had some kind of influence on my musical taste. While writing I don’t usually listen to much music, I find it distracting, but I remember that around that time (it took me almost 3 years to write/record) I was listening to Julee Cruise and Angelo Badalamenti’s collab works, to Talk Talk masterpiece ‘Spirit of Eden’ as well as to beautiful songs by Eric Chenaux and David Sylvian’s ‘Secrets Of The Beehive’. Recently some people told me they heard some Blonde Redhead influences too, so who knows, what’s sure is that I try to find my own way in music. I wanted to write songs that defied the classical idea of songwriting, and I’ve probably just set the first stone.

While listening to you, I felt a new, renewed intimacy and a strong and seductive emotionality. Was it your plan to arouse certain things in the listener?

That’s just the way I am, I’m always in the moment and honestly I never planned to arouse certain things, but I’m happy to hear that I did, at least with you, because it means the songs are “alive”. I always wish for them to channel some kind of energy that invites the listener to also feel activated, as if it were a mutual experience. I’m not looking for passive listeners.

Can we consider Crumbled Canvas as the bud of a future bloom? Do you already have other projects in mind, both alone and in the company of other artists?

I consider it as one of my possible debuts, and I definitely feel it is the bud of a future research along a very personal and intimate path. I’d love to write more songs and further expand my sound palette, and I’m currently particularly interested in sipping more experimental ideas in the process, though who knows what will come out of it!

Lately I’ve been listening to some really inspiring songwriters and musicians whose take on songs I find extremely on point such as Martha Skye Murphy, Astrid Sonne, Jonnine, Mabe Fratti, Clarissa Connelly, Nilufer Yanya and the mighty Kim Gordon. As for my “other” research on the experimental/avantgarde realm, I’m working on a new album with my pal, drummer Vittoria Burattini, for our duo Bono / Burattini, which is basically where I pour most of my weird ideas and practice on synthesizers, wordless vocal arrangements and stuff like that. I feel much more free and at ease with the fact that I can explore different approaches at the same time, I’ve never wished for anything better than this sense of freedom.