Rebecca Miller was reunited with Jack Savoretti, the anglo-italian (born in London, grew up in Italy) singer songwriter, for a shoot for his record label BMG Chrysalis.
Jack is touring at the moment promoting ‘Written In Scars’, his impressive new album and his first to be released by a major label, with whom he signed earlier this year. “A lot of the songs were written with Sam Dixon, who is Adele’s musical director and Sia’s main co-writer”, says Savoretti. “I also wrote with Matt Benbrook who has worked with Paolo Nutini, Jake Bugg and Faithless and finally, of course, with my guitarist Pedro Vito and Seb Sternberg (Pedro’s production partner). I drew inspiration from them all.
“The heartbeat of the album is rhythm. It’s all about groove, drums and bass. The sound was key – it came before the songs or the subject matter. I completely changed the way I’d previously written, abandoning structure for a looser, loopier, almost circular approach.“
What Savoretti didn’t spot until ‘Written In Scars’ was underway was the influence of music from his family past. “Most of my musical influences come from my parents,” says Savoretti, “My mum was into The Eagles, Crosby Stills & Nash and Motown. My dad played mostly Italian music from the ‘60s and ‘70s. In the past I suppressed that as an influence but, for the first time, on these songs, it appeared.’
What Savoretti calls the Euroclash of his past emerges in the album’s rich, warm textures and brooding atmospherics, as well as in the Spanish-style guitar that opens both the title track, a rousing revolution anthem, and future single ‘Home’. It’s there in the melancholy piano and soulful phrasing of ‘Back To Me’ and in the darkness that envelops ‘The Hunger’, a song through which bass beats like a pulse.