Trance artist Giuseppe Ottaviani recently released his third studio album, Alma. Featuring 15 soulful tracks, Alma takes you on a spiritual journey channeled through Ottaviani's most vivid childhood memories. He elaborates on the album in the following interview:

Please describe your sound in five words or less.

Made For Music Lovers.

Congratulations on the release of your third studio album, Alma. What does this milestone mean to you as well as the development of your sound?

ALMA is definitely a next step in my sound and artist career. While trying to keep my signature sound alive I also experimented quite a lot with new sounds and styles. This doesn’t mean that ALMA doesn’t sound “Giuseppe Ottaviani”, it actually does, 100%, but it delivers some fresh air to the people who are following me from a while. It’s been a great two year long journey that’s taken place in and outside of my studio. I worked everywhere, on airplanes, trains, hotels, airports and pretty much all over the world as traveling it’s been quite hectic for the past two years, and all those different places and experiences also influenced the sound of my tracks.

What does the album's track order mean to you? Why did you choose "Alma" as the poster-head track for the album's title, and how does it represent the collective piece? 

There’s not a specific meaning behind the track order, I just like the flow and I put together vocal and instrumental tunes plus some different beats like ‘Primavera’ right in the middle of the CD to keep it various. The last track ‘Home’ was also a obvious choice.

As you may know the word ALMA from Spanish translate to SOUL in English and the album title track ‘Alma’ is probably the most soulful melody of the entire album.

This one is related to those happy moments of my childhood but also to those sad moments I had, it’s a mixtures of both, something that I find hard to describe as I don’t have clear memory of what happened but I have few pictures with strong feelings related to those moments. The way the melody evolves, perfectly describes those moments of sadness and happiness. It’s crazy how you don’t remember much of your childhood when you grow but you still have few pictures in your mind that can bring you back right there and let you feel such a strong emotions without even knowing exactly why, but apparently those pictures remain with you for a very long time and this is what allowed me to write Alma.

What is the recurring motif, or theme, found throughout the album? What particular emotions or perceptions do you intend to evoke in listeners?  

The idea behind this album was to bring the enthusiasm, emotions and spirit of a child into the older age.  I’ve been inspired by watching my two little children growing and noticed how music can actually mark a specific moment of their lives. This brought me back to when I was a little kid and remembered all different type of music I was listening to.

It’s hard to explain since it’s a personal feeling but there are many melodies and sounds that are strongly related to specific moments of my childhood. Especially with the instrumental tracks like ‘Primavera’ or ‘Alma’ or ‘Aurora’, if I close my eyes I can actually see and “smell” those moments, yes it’s a quite personal album this time, but I hope this will inspire listeners to take a trip back to their childhood. Sometimes it’s great to take a break from the hectic daily life of these days where we all keep going and look to the future as if life was a race.  But it’s not, it’s a journey and we shouldn’t forget the past so that you can better enjoy the present while keep going to the future.

The album features tracks titled "Brightheart," "Firefly," "Burn Bright," "Aurora," and the poster-head "Alma" which are connected by symbols associated with the soul, like light and fire. Would you please elaborate on this motif's significance? How are these symbols representative of the tracks themselves?

Let me first say that all the demos for the album have been made with a piano and some strings. If you could listen to the first draft of the album you would be able to see a better picture which perfectly represents what I said above. Then when I started to collaborate with other artists they also brought in their experiences and meanings so the each track has been shaped differently for the original demo. Of course they all fit my album concept but the vocal tracks also represent their singers. I’m actually giving a in depth description of each track on my Facebook page. Check it out if you wonder to know a bit more specific for each track.

What's the best piece of advice that you would give to yourself 10 years ago, if you could?

Well I would definitely not use my real name as the artist name. It’s still a pain when it comes to spelling or pronounce it correctly.

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