MUSIC IS MY EVERYTHING BY FEDERICA FAITH SCIAMANNA
2017 marks the great return with a new full-length of one of alt metal’s most unique, fast-growing bands of the Italian wave. With their first two albums ‘A New Horizon’ and and ‘The Darkest Hour’, the band started building up their profile as a strong live act touring all over Europe as support band for Papa Roach, Misfits, Vanilla Sky, God Is an Astronaut, Dead Letter Circus, Tarja and many others, getting enthusiastic response by both media and fans alike for their great energy on stage. The Shiver is now ready to spread the world with their brand new album ‘Adeline’, where Faith’s stellar voice is enough to make The Shiver attractive and a must listen. The immersive layers of synth and guitar create some impressive soundscapes that permeate all songs.
First of all, I have to say that I’m the main composer, all that you hear from The Shiver is my creature. I use to record demos and ideas at any time of my day, collecting tons of material and when the time comes and a concept for the new record is mature I open the huge demo folder on my laptop and I start to select what I like. The ideas are usually in an embryo state: just a chorus, some riffs, rhythmic ideas. Once I start to work on that it will take a lot of concentration, many days in my studio, and the pre-productions are ready.
A few years ago I was spending my holidays in the Italian countryside and I came in contact with the legend of Azzurrina di Montebello (Adelina was her real name). I love Ancient History, especially the middle ages, and I found this kind of research very interesting, so I considered many other subjects and I selected the most interesting to build songs around them. Each track of the new album talks about a legend, and each legend contains a part of truth, generally, so for example, the song called ‘Rejected’ talks about the story of Giulia Farnese, member of a noble family, married by the ugly Duke Orsini, and buried alive by him for being unfaithful. Her ghost is still in the Castle of Vasanello, in pain and suffering.
The concept of freedom is fundamental for me as a person and most of all in music. This goes straight to the definition of Alternative, that is what I love, what I listen to and what I apply in my music. I’m so bored about the classic concept of gothic metal, that people sometimes use talking about us, still… The artists I chose as an example for this latest album are A Perfect Circle, I love that mix of melancholy and metal. I’ve been listening to their albums for years, but you know how it works… Your musical influences need time to appear in your creative flow, and the things I’m really listening in the last 5 years will appear on the next album…
So the correct genre and focus would be alternative rock, goth rock, post-metal. During the latest years, I’ve been listening to very different stuff, and I’ve been playing around our continent with so many great artists and I feel so grateful. All of this will converge into the next creature. Electronic, alternative, soul.
The thing that scares me is: I’m listening to lots of instrumental music, and I love it… so what about a number of vocals in the next stuff? I still need to figure it out. The most important thing, that will never be missing, is guitar.
In time, I noticed that what I compose cannot be appreciated by anyone. The Shiver is not something that you just play on the radio in a supermarket and people start to whistle.
But, the audience that The Shiver attracts, goes really deep inside my music and concept. Usually, they are other musicians, or artists anyway. I think that the level of self-consciousness and sensibility is important for understanding this album.
When I was 14 I was starting my first band. One Saturday I was listening to MTV (the good old MTV, not the shit that is now) and they streamed this beautiful video that was funny and sad at the same time, with this guy with big black hair wearing a white t-shirt. I fell in love instantly. It was The Cure, Friday I’m in Love. But I was sure I knew this song already!! In fact, after some time, I could clearly remember my dad playing their album ‘Wish’ in my house Hi-Fi, when I was 7 years old!
I am a super emphatic and emotive person, and when I am in a situation with living things I am like a sponge: I absorb everything. Now I have much more control over this and I know when I can stay and when I have to go or how to use this to make someone feeling better without losing my balance. This gave to me many points of views on the world and I tried to express them all in my music.
When I was 13 years old I started listening to lots of rock music: my first love was Incubus, then The Cure, Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, NIN, Depeche Mode. That’s what you can clearly hear from my tracks. The fact that my voice is a clear soprano girlie range turns it all into a female metal/female rock project. At the beginning my tracks were rough, then I started to take care of all the small details, and of course, in years of study I am trying to develop my own vocal style, but it’s a work in progress of course.
In the end, after many tours, after great collaborations, after a lot of work to build my own job (4 years ago with my bandmate Finch we opened a music school in my city), I can truly admit that music is my life. Of course, it requires big sacrifices, you have to give all to the music, but then it pays you back in great rewards when people listen to your albums and actually feel better.
