We Speak Music
Michele Ducci releases wildly inventive animated film for his new album ‘Snail in the Clouds’!
Snail in the Clouds – A Film for Songs is a stunning, wildly inventive animated film by Michele Ducci and Letizia Mandolesi, populated by a world of fascinating and loveable creatures. It serves as a companion piece to the album Snail in the Clouds, released on June 5th 2026 on Monotreme Records.
The plot of the film centres on a dream about a planet, experienced by a sleeping airplane passenger during turbulence. It serves as a variation on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and a study on clouds and turbulence – much like the upheaval brought by the arrival of alphabetic language and the Sophists in ancient Greece, long before the Al Cloud.
The dream is about 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.
Drawing on influences including Brecht, Godard, Kafka, Dragon Ball, Il Candelaio by Giordano Bruno, Carmelo Bene and La rana e lo scorpione by Rocco Ronchi (to whom the film is dedicated), the film was created according to Ducci:
“To invent a world that tells us what ours is like. Creating a monad: a mix between a film animation, a music album, and a philosophical operetta on the Pythagoreans that unites all artistic media in a single matriosque, using video clips as the songs are used in the Brechtian theatre read in an art pop key.”
A limited edition vinyl pressing of 200 copies of Snail in the Clouds will be released later in July. You can pre-order it from The Monotreme Records shop or from Bandcamp.
Swiss artist Fanny Alexandra returns with “Black Pearl Summer”, a new single that finds her exploring a more open side of her alternative sound. Released via Now Listen, the track combines coastal imagery with a story about growing through grief, pressure and the experiences that can shape a person over time.
Alexandra notes that the song is relatively summery by her own standards. She has said that her music is usually darker and that she has never been particularly drawn to the typical idea of summer, preferring cold air, jackets and rugged coastlines. That gives the release a clear sense of personality from the outset.
The song centres on Alexandra’s reflections on being 19 and spending years focused on survival rather than fully living. Those experiences are presented through the image of a black pearl, which becomes a way of considering how something worthwhile can emerge from a challenging period.
What makes the track particularly effective is the balance between its subject matter and its musical approach. The production gives the song room to breathe, while Alexandra keeps the focus firmly on the story she is telling. It means the track can be enjoyed as a seasonal release while still offering more to discover in the lyrics.
There is also a clear sense of change in the way Alexandra approaches her younger self. The song is not about returning to that period or trying to erase it. Instead, it considers what can be learned from experiences that once felt overwhelming.
“Black Pearl Summer” therefore offers newcomers a useful introduction to Alexandra’s work. It shows an artist comfortable writing about serious subjects, while also demonstrating a lighter musical side that may not be as familiar to listeners who know her darker material.
It is an interesting glimpse of what Alexandra can do when she lets a little more light into the picture.
-
We Speak Music1 week agoADRIANNA Gets Two Very Different Lives From ‘Power Back’
-
We Speak Music1 week agoB BWOY BILLO AND MÖ THA TRUTH BRING EMOTION, BARS AND BROTHERHOOD TO GHANA’S RAP FUTURE
-
We Speak Business5 days agoFunl Raises $2.5 Million at a $10 Million Post-Money Valuation to Transform How Creators Bring Events to Life
-
We Speak Hip-Hop6 days agoGhost Da Lyrical returns with Taylor Made Ghost