Time Off
It’s a foggy, cold night and we are on a highway driving our van packed with studio gear. There are just a few other cars accompanying us on our way through the mist of the Northern part of Italy. As the sun slowly rises and the air clears up, we get a tired first glimpse of the Italian Alps. Massive, quiet and somehow peaceful.
As we keep on driving, we leave vivid Italian cities and busy streets behind us and finally find ourselves pushing the boundaries of our old 90’s Volkswagen engine. Surrounded by a vast mountain landscape and wild creeks, we are passing old abandoned stone huts and wind our way up a mountain on narrow roads until there is no way of driving any further. There we find our destination: a tiny village called Falmenta. After heaving our gear and food supply up a steep path, we start settling into a cottage house located directly at the hillside. Built completely out of stone a few centuries ago, it’s facing the imposing alpine peaks of the vast valley ‘Valle Cannobina’. No other human being in sight. No other sounds than chirping of birds and a distant waterfall. Breath in, breath out. As we begin to inhale mountain air and open up all its squeaky wooden windows, we feel like this old house is leaving its state of hibernation.
The original living room slowly transforms into our studio: synthesizers, amps and a drum kit are set up next to a wooden stove and some family photos. Up here in this idyll of quiet there is no phone reception, no shops to go to, no neighbours to talk to. Now and then we spot a monk who is living somewhere in the woods all by himself.
Body and mind come to rest
Back home we experience being available and receptive for all kinds of stimulations and inputs via phone, feeds and news nearly 24/7. This place is different. After a few days of adjusting to this new surrounding, we fall into a daily cycle of mainly doing music, sleeping and eating. At first it feels weird not being ‘in the loop’ or ‘up to date’. It feels like missing out not to know what’s going on outside our temporary hideout.
This setting eventually shifts our perception of who is actually missing out and on what.
No feeds to follow, no posts to promote, no calls to take or e-mails to write.
Without sounding cheesy, it feels like your body and mind come to rest to set free new capacities. We feel more aware of how we approach things, listen or do music. At the same time it can be difficult to be offline when you’ve learned to rely on digital communication or have to drive down the mountain to upload a file. That makes it tricky.
“Falmenta” Artwork
Besides writing and recording, we spend time hiking, collecting chestnuts and jumping of waterfalls. We read, reflect, write, talk and dream more than usual. All by ourselves. Social interaction is limited to this little isolated cosmos with its three characters: David, Elias and Iven. It’s intense on so many levels. You get to get confronted with yourself and your compadres, with stuff that’s fun and some that’s not as much. You get to reflect on the purpose of music with its beauty and complexity of doing it in a band setting. You get to share an intimate experience with individuals who work together as a unit with respect for everybody’s quirks.
This ‘time off’ was very inspiring for us. Being that isolated felt freeing and calming which enabled us to revise and transition personally and musically. It resulted in a record we feel is very connected to that experience in the Italian Alps. That’s why we decided to call it Falmenta.
All Photos by Iven Jansen
Falmenta by Sea Moya will be released on October 12 via Majestic Casual Records.