Sprecato by James Jonathan Clancy.

A chat with the artist.

Feb 28, 2024

James Jonathan Clancy has been one of the protagonists of the Italian underground scene for years, with various musical projects such as Settlefish, A Classic Education and His Clancyness, and cultural activity with his Maple Death Records. After over twenty years of artistic commitment, Clancy released his first album under his own name, accompanied by the beautiful artwork of Michelangelo Setola, cartoonist of the Bolognese publishing house Canicola.

Clancy moves into an alienated and dark urban imaginary.

Sprecato is, in fact, an introspective work, dense and rich in nuances, which seems to have matured over time through the voice in the name of dreamlike songwriting eclecticism.

For Cosmic Lazers, I chatted with Jonathan.

Jonathan, thanks for this chat and congratulations on the album, which I devoured from when it came out. But let's get to us: how does it feel to release a solo album after twenty years of a multifaceted career?

Feels really good, probably the best I’ve ever felt, I really really like how the record turned out so it’s been a pleasure to see the reactions, I really did not know what to expect. I’m also more conscious about what I’m trying to do and don’t have any expectations or objectives other than doing stuff that makes me feel good. Maybe I feel more free than in the past…

Let's talk about the title; why Sprecato?

It’s obviously directly tied to Setola’s comic book ‘Gli Sprecati’ (Canicola Edizioni); while working on the record a few years ago, I came to a bit of a halt, and I decided that if I ever finished the record, I would call it ‘Sprecato’, it seemed fitting at the time. With Setola we always have this joke of being people that sort of waste their time and talent or get fixated on certain things, and I liked the humour in naming an album that way and also putting an Italian word and making it a bit challenging to pronounce it.

What is your connection with the cartoonist Michelangelo Setola?

One of my best friends at this point, he’s a visionary and one of Italy’s best kept secrets. He truly was the spark that started the record.

What is your relationship with the portrait on the cover?

At this point, I almost feel like it’s me… out of all the portraits that Michelangelo drew for the cover and single I felt like that one was the most mysterious, half-human, half-something else, sort of sad, enigmatic, with something to say and I like that it has ‘Sprecato’ written below. Felt right.

On the record I heard many references to Scott Walker, above all. What were the inspirations for giving birth to Sprecato? What do you think audiences can find in it?

Of course, I love Scott Walker, I think on the record I mainly wanted the vocals to have depth recording-wise and use all the registers I have in my voice. From the get-go, I had this idea of uniting sad dusty songs, loner folk, the good old music I love like Fred Neil, Hardin, Jansch, etc, and then I love early Craig Leon, Palace Of Lights ambient, Barreca, etc, and I wanted those two worlds to be in the record. So that was sort of my map…
Regarding listeners, I’m not sure, I guess I would hope they feel like the record has layers and discover stuff on every listen.

You have used high-level collaborations such as Enrico Gabrielli, Francesca Bono, and Stefano Pilia. What was it like working on this project with them?

Easy, Stefano and I have been friends for 25 years, and I’ve worked on some of his releases from the label side… he really brought the best out of my work and was crucial in making it sound the way it does. We also have a total understanding and sort of the same musical references on some stuff. All the other musicians on the record are mainly friends, people I trust. Dominique Vaccaro and Andrea De Franco in particular had already played live with me, so we had common ground.

In two songs, you can hear some Italian verses. What was the path that led you to this? Will a song entirely in Italian ever be released?

Casualty, I wasn’t expecting to have those verses in Italian, but they felt natural while I wrote them down, so I kept them. I don’t think it necessarily will lead to a song completely in Italian, but never say never.

Sonically speaking, Sprecato is a dense, unaligned record. What can you tell us about it?

I’m really happy the record is perceived that way, thanks… I think that was definitely the intention, but at the end of the day, those are the types of records I like and want to listen to, music with space but a lot of density and small things that pop in and out. Most of the songs were written by using a more open structure, not really tied to verse/chorus etc, but more like a bed for words and sounds. Many of them have a first section and a second section and don’t have repeated parts.

Other projects in the pipeline?

Happy to bring the record live as much as possible, we’re currently touring as a quartet with Laura Agnusdei, Dominique Vaccaro (J.H. Guraj), and Andrea De Franco (Fera).