logo

Name: Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo
Nationality: Italian
Occupation: Composer, sound artist
Recent release: The new Larsen album Golden Leaf, a collaboration with Alessandro Sciaraffa, is out via Important.
Recommendations: Too many really, I'd just suggest to look for artists true to their own vision, also, 'cause representation really matters, to look into the most possible open body of materials; I'm sure everyone will find what they need and will discover more about themselves too in the process.

If you enjoyed this interview with Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo of Larsen and would like to find out more about his music, visit him on Facebook. To find out more about Larsen, read our interviews with the other band members:

[Read our Roberto Maria Clemente interview]
[Read our Paolo Dellapiana interview]
[Read our Marco Schiavo aka Il Bue interview]

Over the course of their career, Larsen have collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Xiu Xiu, Martin Bisi, and Lustmord.


[Read our Xiu Xiu interview]
[Read our Martin Bisi interview]
[Read our Lustmord interview]



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I started playing as a member of Larsen in the early 90s. Before that, I experimented with other artistic languages, but obviously music is the one that worked for me. My background is in post punk and no-wave, later on I discovered German 70s music and that was quite of an epiphany.

But I always thought of myself as more of a director than a musician, so movies have always been the main source of inspirations. I just use sounds instead of images to create worlds and tell stories.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

Like I said I approach music and sound as a movie script, as a shifting and change of atmospheres and landscapes

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

I've constantly been more and more aware and interested in the semantic and political value of the musical languages as such.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

As a queer gay man I have and always had the daily opportunity to experience life from more of an “outsider” perspective. I think that since an early age I looked for art and artists that were channelling the same kind of experience and now I think that is my own mission too as an artist.

It can translate into more open and direct statements in my solo work or in the research for specific sounds and structures

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

Art is political. Utopia (meant as the creation or disclosure of possibilities) is its goal.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I'm interested in both, but that's not how I approach music as a listener or as a composer. I just try to put music out there that is true to myself, out of any possible label or genre. I think that's what make music timeless.

Also any music belongs to the moment in which it has been created. The two elements are not in any way in conflict, but complementary

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

I'm quite a conceptual artist in many ways, the primary idea is what interests me. There are not really wrong or right strategies, but just those that are functional to take me from the starting point to the final result.

I love to work in the studio 'cause it's potentially limitless

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

I do not really have a routine. I go through long periods of almost total inactivity to others of frantic creativity due to the sudden surfacing of an idea or a commission. I'm a full time musician so I need to stay busy in order to support myself, which is not that easy honestly.

I'm definitely not the kind of musician who plays or practices every day, I only compose, play, record when I'm working on a specific project, otherwise I really like to take it easy, travel, attend concerts, art shows, go to the movies, many movies usually.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

It can be very different for a solo work, my albums as ( r ), or within the band or collaborative context, I usually let the music take me wherever the music needs to but always staying true to the original idea. It's like David Lynch says about catching “the big fish”.

I usually start from a possible title, an image in my mind, and try to give it life, When I work with my Larsen bandmates or other musicians, it is more of an open dialogue. It has to be, it would be pointless otherwise and just turn into a self indulgent display of egos.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

Every single fucking day!

By making me feel understood, by questioning me, by giving me the chance to explore other realities and people's lives, creating connections.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?

They are instrumental to each other, or at least they should be.  

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I do not think it's that different (even if I don't drink coffee). Making music is actually quite like cooking (which I love). I'm an artist 24/7, but I'm also many other things. Like everyone I've a life, all of those elements are part of me and as such of my music.

I could probably express the same thing in other ways, but it just happens that music is my language.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

There's definitely a side of music that goes beyond its semantics and more into the physical experience.

Psychoacoustics is something I'm quite interested in but I haven't applied to my own work yet if not at a very intuitive level to create specific atmospheres and textures.