Simone Moscato is a musician and composer; he has decades of experience playing for various musical projects, including solo singer-songwriter EP’s and instrumental music. Moscato has now found his own perfect synthesis of composition, vocal research, acoustic and electronic instrumentals for the project “The path of least resistence”. "Four Seasons in a Small Box" narrates the suggestion of the pandemic era – it contains tracks composed in a surreal year in which the entire world was forced inside their homes confronting themselves. Isolation and the situation of being in the quietness of our homes brought us reflecting on our lives, between moments of inner search and fears, sometimes logical and other times illogical.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Kamil) Hey Moscato, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What first got you into music?
Hi Kamil, the pleasure is all mine! I remember paying particular attention to music after watching the movie Highlander for the first time. The soundtrack contained many songs by Queen, and at the end of the movie I was fascinated by the song “Prince of the Universe”. From that moment on, I started singing Queen songs, discovering my own voice and what it could give me to make music.
How do you balance your time in the studio with other commitments such as a part-time job, family, admin?
For several years now I have been following artists who want to study their voices, a job that allows me to manage my own time the way I want, and also to dedicate myself to music. My partner knows how important it is to me to compose and play, so I feel very lucky!
Your latest release is 'Four Seasons in a Small Box'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
Like lots of other people during lockdown, I recorded some tracks, and I did it with the instruments I had at home. In the attic, which is where I have my small home recording studio, there’s a window facing the roof, and from there month after month I listened to the change of sounds in the various seasons, and I was stunned by how the world outside was changing while my everyday life inside remained the same. This made me think a lot.
Where did you get the inspiration for this EP?
The EP collects the impressions linked to the pandemic, in particular the madness generated by fear and by isolation, which led us to become radical and often incapable of observing reality, regardless of the various opinions on it. This atmosphere based on hysteria reminded me of an event in the 1940s when Orson Welles, during a TV show in which he narrated stories that were clearly fictional, announced the imminent arrival of aliens, which threw America into chaos! The EP is inspired by that type of mental cage made of thoughts and obsessions.
How long did you work on the 'Four Seasons in a Small Box'? Was it an easy process for you?
The composition process lasted for one year, then I selected the tracks and completed the work.
How do you know when a work is finished?
I’m a perfectionist who likes to touch up even the smallest detail, but the moment I realize a track is finished is when I recognize I can’t find anything significantly wrong with it anymore, so I start to modify stuff to then undo the last change. At that point, I understand that the track is complete.
Can you write what was your best performance in your career? How do you remember it?
Probably not a gig – there have been many in which I felt satisfied, but I believe that my best performance was during a studio session when I recorded the album before this EP, tracking all the vocals and the guitars in just one day. The takes were almost perfect and I was extremely satisfied.
How do you find yourself in the music business? When you started out in music, did you know it would be like this?
I started many years ago, working since I was young with original songs and performing in small clubs, but it is only in the last years where I found a way of composing that I really liked. When I started composing I would have never imagined how it would have changed, or even how the music world would have changed, so today I live both the amazement and the difficulty of adapting to something that is not quite congenial to me, and I’m referring to social media in particular.
Who is your favourite musician?
There have been many different ones in time, so I will tell you the one whom I never got tired listening throughout, and never stopped to amaze me: Peter Gabriel.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans are to keep writing – I’m already working on another album that is going to be a lot of work!
Thank you! Bye!