We Speak Music

Blank Head Unleashes Concept Album ‘Hope in Blue’

Published

2 years ago

January 21, 2024

Blank Head is a musical concept intent on breaking boundaries. The electronic concept album Hope in Blue is made up of a single 49-minute and 20-second composition that, as seen on the cover, musically depicts the life of a young girl in the 1950s in the USA as she travels through Hollywood, Europe, and New York City to meet her end.

Hope in Blue, was conceived by their long desire to compose a full-length piece of music as was the case many years ago. With tongue in cheek, its working title before discovering the 1950s Kodak slide of the young girl named Hope which was ‘Seem Funny’ with its obvious play on words. For the composer, it was always a single thing that changed in key or pace to represent different emotional moments in life. The instrumental ranges from classical, R&B, rock, and choral. There are several tempo and key changes throughout the project showcasing various periods in life of Hope. To their astonishment, splitting it up resulted from the unusually limited perspective on music that has been embraced since streaming became the default option.

After they started spending a lot of time in Iceland recently, a haphazard essay they wrote years ago gave rise to the idea of Blank Head, whose identity, philosophy, and scope became meaningfully enjoyable. To sum up, they consider Hope in Blue to be a serious work and have always anticipated that it might not be widely embraced.

Original and imaginative music has the power to cut over linguistic and cultural barriers, evoking a common beat that gives the listener a sense of purpose and feeling. Philosophical music can stimulate critical thinking and lead the listener to reflect on life’s more profound questions. A space for introspection, contemplation, and self-reflection can be created by listening to thoughtful music. Not only can this type of music provide support during difficult times and circumstances, but it may also encourage change and development.

These kinds of music are beneficial to all people, regardless of their age, gender, culture, religion, or worldview. A well-written piece of music has the power to unite people, promote harmony, and encourage calm celebrations—all while optimising the human experience. A creative and original musical composition fosters freedom of expression, a distinct voice, and a unique perspective, leaving an enduring impression.

We Speak Music

Michele Ducci teases new album with uplifting indie single ‘Woman Like You’

Published

1 day ago

April 17, 2026

Don Reed

Michele Ducci has unveiled the second single, ‘Woman Like You’, from his forthcoming album and animated film ‘Snail in the Clouds’.

‘Woman Like You’ pairs bright distorted electric guitar with an electronic drumbeat, adding in Ducci’s soulful vocals and a catchy uplifting chorus with Letizia Mandoleisi’s sweet vocal harmonies. A vintage organ pedalboard operated by Ducci simultaneously generates chords, bass and rhythm, like a one-man band. Shane Kennedy (Girl in the Year Above) joins in on guitar. Simon Milner (Is Tropical, Ysing) recorded and produced the track at his 4am Studios in London.

The album and film tell the story of a planet called ‘Snail’, inhabited by hybrids – primarily a mixture between scorpions, snails and humans – who lead a life according to the style of Pythagoras, devoted to music. There is also a cloud man named Agostos, a writer of musical operettas, who together with a talking smoke machine called Doctor Subtilis, begins to kill all hybrids, targeting in particular the hybrid musician Diodoros and his band, in an effort to steal the ark of melodies, an ancient ship that allows the whole planet to survive with music and joy.

The video for the single, created and animated by Ducci and Mandoleisi, delves further into the realm of planet ‘Snail’:

Says Ducci, “The ark of melodies, after various attempts, finally starts to work and fly in the planet Snail, while the shady Doc. Sub. and Agostos, with their platoon of soldiers made of foggy smoke, spy the miracle, planning to steal the ark for their evil and tyrannical purposes.”

About the track, Michele says, “I wrote this song for my love Letizia. Love seen from the mind is the sound we make. Sound is the love of matter.

We used a Technics synthesizer organ from a flea market. I tried to find a mood that was right for the song and I started using the bass of the pedal board together with the synth and the drums, and it was magical to hear the song reveal itself all coming from a single instrument. Leti was singing with me and we recorded everything live in one shot. Then we made Shane do the guitar flight, as if he came out of the window. The idea was to maintain disproportions, guitar thrust and synth drum thinness a la Haroumi Hosono, so as to create an estrangement, but naturally: it’s about how I listen, with close up something that captures me in its nuance as element of a larger orchestra somewhere. I’m glad we decided in the studio with Simon to use the layers of arrangement as the close-ups in the cinema; they look like strange enlargements that perch on parts of a mutated orchestra. I’m happy to come back with this love song at a time when everything seems to opt, even my labor in managing the flows of selfishness that have poured out on me while doing this album, for the sound of war. I’m here happy to be able to say that the sound of love always wins as did for me. Snail in the clouds is one of the most important works in my life and I am glad to start from pure love for this album that is my son.”

The album and full-length film will be released on the 5^th of June on Monotreme Records.

Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, ‘The Great Book of Nature’, is an official selection for the 2026 Venice Shorts Film Festival.