I’m Calling You From My Dreams, Matilde Davoli’s smouldering electronic gem of a debut solo album is a record that, between echoing chimes of Stereolab inspired guitar, big washes of dream-pop haze and moody nods to the sixties Italian psychedelic soundtrack music she calls a huge part of her heritage, remembers the loved ones she left behind, pouring over their memories like faded photographs. “It’s about the friends, family, places and things to which I’m bound and my desire to help these amazing people to find happiness,” Matilde explains. “It’s a record that talks strength and sweetness at the same time.”
Like its wandering creator, I’m Calling You From My Dreams‘ sound is near impossible to pin down. From the galloping jangles of ‘Realize’ to the eighties video game synth hysteria of ‘Salvation’, all the way to raw, folksy lament ‘Still Rolling’, threaded with heartbreaking chants that “nothing’s gonna change”, it’s an album borne of fiercely eclectic tastes. “I’ve always gravitated around folk, acoustic and psychedelic rock, with the surrounding mood of Italian soundtracks that I deeply love,” says Matilde. “But here I feel like grown to a new maturity in which I’m now blending all of my influences.” Though she’s collaborated before on electronic projects, this is the “first time I’ve let myself go solidly electro, synthetic soundscapes.”
You wouldn’t know it from the ten assured, sophisticated tracks here: each an invigorating sprawl of electronic murmurs and melodies that spiral around the singer’s breathy, beguiling husk of a voice. “This is my first solo album, the first steps of something new. Right now I feel like a baby again, making its first steps in the world. In all ways it’s an adventure.”