Words by Nick Mee
D’Addio is the new musical venture of Giulia Scarantino, previously of minimalist-techno duo Shirley Said. Her former band’s edge-territory electronica is pushed even further out there on D’Addio’s debut single ‘A Separation’, where verses wrapped in static distortion hover over a sleazy sub-jazz swing, recalling the percussive clatter of Portishead and the curious grace of Cate Le Bon. This intensity is a foil for the chorus, a cleaner, sparser passage over which Giulia’s melodic refrain sings of her ongoing quest for belonging.
“The song is my reflection on the notion of ‘feeling at home’ as a human condition,” says Giulia, who grew up near Rome but has been London-based for a decade or so. “The way I see ‘home’ now has changed during the past 10 years. I’m learning to cope with precariousness as opposed to the protective culture I grew up in – a bit like when we leave our countries looking for a different future.”
This search for a sense of identity and place is called forth in ‘A Separation’ via its dislocated instrumentation, though Giulia’s distinct sotto voce offers a little sweetness, perhaps hinting at her view that turmoil and uncertainty can also present opportunity. “We find ‘home’ through our relationships,” she says, “but when these relationships end we face a grief that opens up millions of new possibilities.” Judging by ‘A Separation’, Giulia is now embracing such opportunities in her artistic career and D’Addio is the perfect vehicle to articulate them.