LISTEN: Fil Bo Riva - 'Head Sonata (Love Control)'

With various other commitments outside of the blog, I (like most music bloggers) have far too little time to listen to all of the tracks that I'm sent to review, but very often find complete gems in my inbox. Rewind to last August and I had one of those moments, discovering the incredibly talented Fil Bo Riva, a half-Italian, half-Irish, Berlin-based musician whose debut single Like Eye Did I instantly fell in love with. Fast forward to May this year and The Great Escape Festival, where I braved the pouring down rain and ventured to a hotel on the Brighton seafront to catch him playing an incredible set to an adoring crowd. I've listened to his If You're Alright, It's Alright EP on a fairly regular basis since the festival and I'm particularly in love with the tune Franzis!

It's been over a year since the EP was released and I was excited (and a little nervous) to find a new tune from Fil and the gang in my inbox. Growing from a solo project into a duo and now a four-piece band, they have had a very busy year, performing at gigs and festivals across Europe, whilst finding time for frontman Fil to head back to the studio consistently to work on their debut album with producer Robert Stephenson. Taking my first listen of the single, seconds into the track my worries were banished - it's just as much of a tune as the EP and an impressive, upbeat and playful taste of what's to come, as the first single from the upcoming album. Fil describes beautifully that “if the EP was a photograph of an idea, what we are trying to create with the album is an actual movie. I’m not trying to sound romantic but it’s like accumulating different pictures and feelings… and we all worship the album format, that’s why we want to take the time to shape it properly.”

Talking about the birth of this new single, he says that “the title “Head Sonata“ was just meant to be a name placeholder at the start. The song was built around the chorus guitar riff and the first time I heard Felix [A. Remm] play it, I felt my head spinning and it immediately gave me a trippy and repetitive feeling. A few minutes later I had the title written down. I simply liked the sound of it. These two words somehow translated my imagination of the songs soundscape… And since the track didn’t have any lyrics nor a melody for the first few months, the word ‘sonata’, literally meaning a piece played, actually suited the song very good. Finally, a breeze of inspiration came to my mind, I wrote down the lyrics and the song was finished. A “Head Sonata” was born.”

Fil Bo Riva will support Milky Chance across their European and UK tour before heading back to Berlin to finish work on the album (hoorah!) Then they're heading back on the road for a headline tour of Europe in 2018, where they will be premiering new material from the debut album, taking in a show at London's Sebright Arms on 17th April.

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