Patrick Watson è tornato con un nuovo singolo intitolato “Silencio“, in collaborazione con la promettente cantautrice francese November Ultra.
La canzone, disponibile dal 15 ottobre e che fa parte di un progetto più ampio che Watson sta terminando, nasce in seguito a un’esperienza vissuta da Watson – un artista pluripremiato che ha pubblicato diversi album apprezzati di pop cinematografico esplorativo negli ultimi due decenni – durante la quale non ha potuto parlare né cantare per quasi tre mesi. “Silencio” esplora alcune delle riflessioni nate proprio in quel periodo: l’ansia che può derivare da una conversazione, imparare ad ascoltare meglio e il potere del silenzio.
“I think you like me better since I lost my voice”, canta Watson, sopra una misteriosa e eterea orchestrazione di chitarre arpeggiate, delicata batteria, pianoforte e sintetizzatori.
Ha scritto la canzone con il suo collaboratore di lunga data, co-autore e compagno di band Mishka Stein e con November Ultra. Watson e November Ultra si sono incontrati per la prima volta durante la registrazione di un programma radiofonico a France Inter a Parigi, dove erano stati invitati lo stesso giorno. La canzone è stata registrata in uno studio di un pittore a Parigi, con vista su Montmartre“with an enormous window and so much old Parisian charm and ghosts,”. “Silencio” è cantata sia in spagnolo che in inglese, con November Ultra che apre la canzone con la sua voce delicata e ultraterrena. Watson descrive il processo di creazione come “magico”: “Her wonderful wit and beautifully soft caring tone was very inspiring. The song just kind of wrote itself, AS THOUGH IT WAS A CONVERSATION WE HAD BEEN HAVING OUR WHOLE LIVES. It was lovely,”, ha detto Patrick.
Ha detto Watson sul brano: “The lyrics are made up of two different stories. Nova was having a tricky moment and so was I. As for her part of the story, well, she’ll tell you all about it. My part of the story was about how I couldn’t talk for two and a half or three months. Since I talk too much in general, it was kind of good for me. The song is built on a bunch of impressions I had during this period. I realized a lot of the things I wanted to say to people, but couldn’t, were probably not that interesting to them anyhow. It made me wonder, maybe I was talking to myself, and not other people a lot of the time. I noticed my interactions with people were so different when I left them the space and they filled the void left by my silence. I realized that you’re much more vulnerable when you’re the one talking, versus the one that just listens. I do have my voice back 100%. I think I talk 7% less which is still a win.”.
November Ultra ha dichiarato: “When I met Patrick, we talked about our voices, our fears of losing them… what would we do if it happened? What would we learn in this forced silence? It happened to Patrick, and then it happened to me as my body shut down after my first tour – I could hardly breathe and had to relearn. I realized the silence humbled me and also made me listen more carefully, to my surroundings, to others… What do we answer when someone asks us how life’s going? How many times should we ask until the other person feels like they can gift us with honesty? That’s what this song “Silencio” felt to me, honesty through silence.”.