Resolutions?

It's that time of the year again. Every January I sit with my diary, pen in hand, and write a list of goals for the year.
This time I still haven't compiled the list. I feel that in this particular moment of my life the main thing I want is to find my own happiness, regardless of what I'm doing professionally or sentimentally or physically. Material goals are always good to keep you moving, that goes without saying, but I probably need to pause those for a moment in order to avoid becoming one of those unhappy little people.
So I think the only item on the list for now will be to be more honest with myself and others, being more vocal about my needs and not scared of showing who I am. And this will probably help me figure out what other material goals I want to have. :-)
What are your resolutions for this year? Let's talk about it!

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In other news, I'm making made a little Spotify playlist with new music that flies to my ears every now and then. Listen here if you need some fresh music and let me know what new songs you have in your head lately. :)

Hope you have an amazing year, you deserve it, just like everyone else in the world. A whole year full of learning and winning and smiling :-)

Hugs,

Valerio x

If You Were Me You Would Be

My new single "If You Were Me You Would Be" is OUT NOW!!!

If you've ever done something with your heart, passion, talent and efforts and nobody gave a SHIT about your value, this song is for you.

Download for FREE on Bandcamp: https://bit.ly/2Hy08Bq
Stream for FREE on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2r3ax1K
Watch for FREE on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QJkMqVdC0hE

If you like this or have liked my music so far, you can help me finish my album supporting me through my Kickstarter Campaign: https://kck.st/2KfYDcV
Send me a message for more info :)

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Credits:

TRACK
piano, vocals, harmonium, keyboards, backing vocals: Valerio Lysander cello: Sam Rowe
violin: Mónica Viñoly
drums: Gregorio Lucchese

music, lyrics, arrangements, production by Valerio Lysander(Valerio Alessandri)

piano and drums recorded by Jonathan McMillan @ Smokehouse Studios, London
vocals and violin, recorded by Nick Harris @ Spare Room Recording - Music Production, London
cello, recorded by Sam Rowe
mixing: Nick Harris @ Spareroom Recordings�
mastering: Jay Fee @ Conduction Mastering

artwork by Alessandro Prencipe

VIDEO: Shot with the help of Chiara Perlino Photographer and edited by Valerio Lysander

Special thanks to:my brothers Giuliano and Matteo cooking, my dad Mario and my uncle Massimo farming, my cousin Simone shopping, Risia getting a massage, Matteo e Irene getting drunk, Martina being annoying, Arianna and Elisa eating, my aunt Gloria mourning, my uncle Atos tidying up coffins, Solly e Giada playing with bras.
The bar is Spirit 24, Monterotondo (RM), Italy.
The restaurant is A San Rocco Giuliano e Matteo, Monterotondo (RM), Italy.
The massage bed is Risia Shiatsu’s.
The clothes shop is Emporio Uomo, Monterotondo (RM), Italy.
The is A P B Agenzia Funebre, Monterotondo (RM), Italy.
The Underwear Shop is La Giarrettiera, Monterotondo (RM), Italy.

Celebrate, Cherish, Bless, Try, Deserve, Be Yourself, Be Happy

I've been through change and development and sadness and joy and excitement and tiredness and despair and hope and saudade and depletion and inadequacy and abundance this year.

Just like everyone else.

Walked on cobblestones and soil and grass and concrete and bridges and towers. 

Set my feet on mattresses and pedals and altars and staircases and rainwater and planes and trains.

I've been confident and I've doubted in myself.

Just like everyone else.

I've learnt new words, of which my favourite ones are aghast, bereft, dalliance, shoal, forsake, repentance, cease, dregs, poised, sleet, fickle.

I've followed new styles and discovered new parts of the world and of me with them. 

I've completed and made resolutions.

A year in which I've (re)built my foundations.

It's all set now.

A proper list of resolutions is not ready yet, but it's going to be soon.

2014 has left me listening to this, throwing myself into the new year with a continuous line. I don't feel the ridges between the borders of December and January. I'm just the same person I was yesterday. (Or am I not? Are we really the same person we were yesterday? The person who we were yesterday hadn't lived today. We have. So are we still the same person?)

There is no cliff dividing 23.59 from 00.00, so I keep following my wake, impelled by the beautiful things I knew in this segment of time that we divided in 365 days of 24 hours.

And by beautiful I mean each and every thing I have lived.

Including these songs, soundtracking my life in the last months, that I invite you to listen to if you haven't already:

These two books I've read:
Through the Language Glass,  Guy Deutscher, about the alleged different way people think depending on their language (or do they not?);
and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer, captivating novel about a special kid investigating about his father's secret after his death, just beautiful.

These two movies I've loved:

Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho,


Kill Your Darlings

And these two poems I've loved, the latter I've just met and it's going to be my motto for this wonderful year that is here and shiny and malleable:

A Fragment, George Gordon Byron

When, to their airy hall, my father’s voice
Shall call my spirit, joyful in their choice;
When, poised upon the gale, my form shall ride,
Or, dark in mist, descend the mountains side;
Oh! may my shade behold no sculptured urns,
To mark the spot where earth to earth returns!
No lengthen’d scroll, no praise-encumber’d stone;
My epitaph shall be my name alone:
If that with honour fail to crown my clay,
Oh! may no other fame my deeds repay!
That, only that, shall single out the spot;
By that remember’d, or with that forgot.

Footnote to Howl, Allen Ginsberg

Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy!
The world is holy! The soul is holy! The skin is holy! The nose is holy! The tongue and cock and hand and asshole holy!
Everything is holy! everybody’s holy! everywhere is holy! everyday is in eternity! Everyman’s an angel!
The bum’s as holy as the seraphim! the madman is holy as you my soul are holy!
The typewriter is holy the poem is holy the voice is holy the hearers are holy the ecstasy is holy!
Holy Peter holy Allen holy Solomon holy Lucien holy Kerouac holy Huncke holy Burroughs holy Cassady holy the unknown buggered and suffering beggars holy the hideous human angels!
Holy my mother in the insane asylum! Holy the cocks of the grandfathers of Kansas!
Holy the groaning saxophone! Holy the bop apocalypse! Holy the jazzbands marijuana hipsters peace peyote pipes & drums!
Holy the solitudes of skyscrapers and pavements! Holy the cafeterias filled with the millions! Holy the mysterious rivers of tears under the streets!
Holy the lone juggernaut! Holy the vast lamb of the middleclass! Holy the crazy shepherds of rebellion! Who digs Los Angeles IS Los Angeles!
Holy New York Holy San Francisco Holy Peoria & Seattle Holy Paris Holy Tangiers Holy Moscow Holy Istanbul!
Holy time in eternity holy eternity in time holy the clocks in space holy the fourth dimension holy the fifth International holy the Angel in Moloch!
Holy the sea holy the desert holy the railroad holy the locomotive holy the visions holy the hallucinations holy the miracles holy the eyeball holy the abyss!
Holy forgiveness! mercy! charity! faith! Holy! Ours! bodies! suffering! magnanimity!
Holy the supernatural extra brilliant intelligent kindness of the soul!

This is to remember and celebrate the ashes of this 2014, a year that gave me a lot but I want more, and to cherish this bliss that time has given me, I bless the holiness that surrounds me, I'm ready to knead this year, and with it I'll be the form I really am. I'll get the best I can from it, trying to deserve it, and you try to do it too.

Happy holy new year my fellows of the world!

:)