Initially starting his music career as a member of Italian indie band Il Disordine delle Cose, Alessandro “Alex” Marchetti is a multi-instrumentalist and producer, and the creative mastermind behind the rising solo recording project Les Flâneurs.
Deriving its name from the French word for “stroller,” “lounger,” “saunterer” or “loafer,” Marchetti’s Les Flâneurs can trace its origins to when the Italian multi-instrumentalist and producer began writing and recording material that possessed a much different vibe and feel from his primary gig: Sonically, Marchetti’s solo project meshes elements of trip hop, electro pop and folk while featuring lush orchestral arrangements and samples.
Interestingly, Marchetti has viewed his role in Les Flâneurs as part director and part producer. And much like a film, individual talents team up to bring material to life and improve upon it — or to create something entirely new. With his new solo project, the Italian multi-instrumentalist and producer has collaborated with an eclectic array of up-and-coming international artists including
Italy’s Carlot-ta, Sweden’s Hanna Turi and Brazil’s Priscila Ribas among others.
The past year has been an extraordinarily busy year for Marchetti: After releasing the attention grabbing debut single, the trip hop-like “Dark Souls,” he released his full-length debut A Long Season earlier this year — and to cap off a big 2020, he released the standalone single “On y va.” Featuring Alice Greco’s plaintive vocals over a lush and folksy arrangement of strummed, shimmering acoustic guitar, plucked banjo, shimmering bursts of twinkling keys and a soaring hook, “On y va,” is a road trip anthem that celebrates freedom — the freedom of being on the road, the freedom of youth and so on. Sonically, the new single is inspired by an unusual guitar tuning that Marchetti heard in a Grizzly Bear song. “I wrote the lyrics as I was traveling at the time, not just in a car, but inside my soul, exploring every day a new unknown part of myself,” Greco says of the song’s lyrics.
Shot in the Italian countryside at golden hour, the recently released video follows a young woman who hitches a ride into the city, to meet up with a dear friend. The two young women get tattoos together, meet up with other friends for drinks and conversation. If it wasn’t for the disorientating impact of the pandemic, everything about this particular video is a reminder of the bliss and passion of youth.
