FOTO: Landstreicher Konzerte

Berlin, October 4, 2024: Today, XXIM Records is proud to announce the release of Blackbirds And The Sun Of October, the new album from Italian artist, producer, pianist and composer FEDERICO ALBANESE. His fifth studio album, and the follow up to his debut release for the label, the 7-track EP, Days Of Passage, Blackbirds And The Sun Of October was inspired by – and entirely written and recorded in – Albanese’s home region of Monferrato in Northern Italy. “It’s an album about coming home, and reconnection,” he says. “Above all, about heritage.”

This release, his first full length album for XXIM Records, marks a new chapter in his already stellar career. Restlessly creative, ALBANESE’S ever-evolving quest for new sounds and experimentation has been more extensive than most.

After an early childhood playing piano, he became interested in jazz, picking up the clarinet, before a teenage fascination with punk rock bands led to him learning bass guitar. Later still, he devoured the new-age music of the late 90s, immersing himself in the works of artists such as Brian Eno and William Basinski. Swirling all that together, and having moved to Berlin from his native Italy, ALBANESE wrote and recorded four albums over his eight years there; each focused on a specific theme, and each adored by critics and fans alike. But for Blackbirds And The Sun Of October he felt a change was required, both thematically and geographically. “I started my whole career in Berlin, my children were born there, and I have a deep connection with all that, but it will never be my home,” he says. “And as beautiful as Berlin can be – it's a very beautiful city – it's a different kind of beauty to Monferrato. The northern Italian countryside in the fall is a whole different story.”