Though the project is already around since 2012, I first heard about R.Y.F. - which means Restless Yellow Flowers, and if you don’t get the reference, it’s explained in the interview below, don’t worry - when doing the podcast episode with the wonderful Bruno Dorella and Stefania Pedretti from OvO (here). Even before I knew anything about it, when I was listening to the songs they had for their list before the recording, I immediately fell in love with the sinister, luscious industrial beats and sublime pop hooks of the track ‘Cassandra’, taken off R.Y.F.’s second album, ‘Everything Burns’. And you know what, if that process worked for me, it’ll work for you too. Here’s the thing:
Awesome, isn’t it? Stefania shyly admitted at the time that it was the first time she was publicly recommending this project in particular, since the sole mind behind it, Francesca Morello, actually happens to be her wife. There is, however, no hint of nepotism here whatsoever in any direction, as both OvO, Alos and R.Y.F. are not only all fantastic projects in their own right, but the music they all make is completely different from each other. So, fast forward a little bit from that always glorious moment of discovery of a cool new band, and now we are thrown by Francesca into the ‘Deep Dark Blue’, their brand new album which will be coming out on April 5th via Bronson Recordings once more.
While not too different in from in comparison with its predecessor, the vibe is noticeably different. The colours give it away - ‘Everything Burns’ was, as its title also implies, a “red” album, an in-your-face, I-have-arrived kind of loud and present passion to it. While the passion remains on this new one, it’s passed to the listener in a different way. The health problems that plagued Stefania in the last few years, which also informed Alos’ harrowing ‘Embrace The Darkness’ (which we discussed at length here), naturally also threw Francesca into a state of disarray, and ‘Deep Dark Blue’ is a sonic expression of the suffering and subsequent healing that took place. As with ‘Embrace…’, Stromboli also played a significant part in the album’s sound and imagery, though whereas Alos went with the earth and fire of the island’s volcanic constitution, R.Y.F. chose to dive into the blue waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
In practice, it translates into a more varied, subtler album, with songs that ooze with atmospheres that will get under your skin, but at the same time the immediacy, catchiness and feverish intensity of ‘Everything Burns’ isn’t totally lost and remains at the heart of it all - it’s just spread in a different way, because there’s a lot more to take in. The variety of genres was already a given before, with industrial, electronic, post-punk, pop and hip-hop being all fused together in Francesca’s songwriting furnace, but the diversity is now reinforced by a few illustrious guests which help elevate the songs where they appear to another plane.
And what guests these are! First of all, Stefania herself, marking the very first time the couple has appeared in the same song (“We never played together even just for fun at home,” Francesca surprisingly admits in the interview that you can read below), in the terrifyingly fractured album closer ‘Deep Dark’, but also - get this - Moor Mother and Skin make appearances in perhaps the most immediate songs on the record, opener ‘Blue’ and ‘Can I Can U’, respectively. The album would absolutely hold up without any guests, but in a way the flavours brought by these established artists will not only probably carry the R.Y.F. name to people who might not have contact with it otherwise, but they also seem to be just the final sonic texture that makes ‘Deep Dark Blue’ one of the highlights of early 2024 - a year where it seems we will need “Love songs, angry songs, sad songs AGAINST HATRED, RACISM, OMO/TRANSPHOBIA, MACHISMO, FATPHOBIA and all the shit is going on around US!!!” (as they described themselves on Bandcamp) so much more than ever.
Check out our interview with Francesca after the jump!
You can find R.Y.F. on Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp and Spotify.
‘Deep Dark Blue’ is out on April 5th on Bronson Recordings, you can pre-order it on the band’s Bandcamp page. The singles ‘Blue’ (with Moor Mother) and ‘Lies’ (with video) are already available.
“Like a magic spell, I tried to turn something bad into music and joy that could heal me and whoever was listening.”
- Francesca Morello
First of all, for everyone who doesn’t know, why Restless Yellow Flowers?
Francesca Morello: It's a reference to the book ‘The Master and Margarita’ by Mikhail Bulgakov. It's a line that describes her while she was walking on the street bringing these ugly restless yellow flowers and I thought that could be a perfect description of myself in that moment in 2011. Yellow is not really my colour but in the past it was related with madness and I was really restless. I still am sometimes, but I’m also delicate like flowers even if I seem tough.
Can you tell us a bit more about the origins of this project? When did you start to make music under this name, and what were your goals and objectives at the time? Did you have any specific influences or inspirations?
Francesca: R.Y.F. started in 2012 when I decided to record a solo EP taking old songs I wrote with my previous band, deflesh them down to the bone of just acoustic guitar and vocals, and writing a couple of new songs alone. I moved from the small village where I was born and was still living in, and I wanted to play more to give to my music much more time and love. My inspirations usually are a combination of different things and they have changed over time, but basically I write about what I see and feel.
How do you think you and your music have evolved since then? Could you imagine that you would do a record like ‘Deep Dark Blue’ when you first started?
Francesca: I started as a songwriter and I still am, but after the first EP I started to explore my way of writing and composing while in the meantime I recorded other two albums of intimate and gaunt songs: my voice, the guitar, some overdub of vocals and few guitars or pianos added. With ‘Everything Burns’ I had the chance of throwing myself into a new journey, letting go, through my encounter with drum machines and synths, my ideas and everything that was in my mind and I never had the courage or the possibility to free.
Tell us more about this new album. What does it represent to you? Is there anything specific you wanted to achieve with it? It feels very diverse, it goes through many moods… it’s almost like an album of contrasts. There’s beauty and there’s pain, there’s light and there’s darkness, there’s… light blue and very dark blue, and all shades in between, in a way?
Francesca: This new album, when it comes to sound, is a sequel of my experience with ‘Everything Burns’. I've worked again with electro music and everything that passed through my mind so that's maybe the reason why it has different moods. Besides, in the last two years my life put me and my wife in a strain so there's a lot of this too. I wanted the record to be dark but not depressive, I wanted it to be slow but danceable, suffered but joyful. I tried not to be stuck in the suffering mode and to react. Like a magic spell, I tried to turn something bad into music and joy that could heal me and whoever was listening.
How is your method of writing usually? What’s usually the spark for a new song? A beat, a guitar part, a sung melody, words, an idea?
Francesca: Honestly, the spark can be anything, but since I'm working with electro music I start mostly with a beat, before instead it could be a guitar riff or an arpeggio. Less frequently happens that I start from a lyric, but in the end I always follow my instinct, don't have rules.
Of course, we have to talk about the very illustrious guests that you have participating on the album. I’m sure the lovely Stefania/Alos wasn’t too hard to convince to be on the album, but what about Moor Mother and Skin, what’s your relationship with them and how did you establish that contact? Did you already write the songs having Camae, Skin and Stefania in mind? And what does it mean to you when you hear these final versions of these songs?
Francesca: It's the first time that Stefania and I are in the same song. We never played together even just for fun at home. So this is very important for me, finally we can stay together in music too. I met Moor Mother in Italy in 2020, we were sharing the stage at the Bronson club in Ravenna and we stayed in touch since then. We tried to collaborate together but it's always difficult to to be aligned in time and space, so when ‘Blue’ was almost ready, I thought that it could be the perfect track for Camae's words. Fortunately she liked it too. Skin is one of my favourite singers since I was at secondary school. I wore out Skunk Anansie's first three CDs by listening to them, so you can imagine how I could feel when she told me she liked my previous album 'Everything Burns' and wanted to play one of my songs on her radio show. We stayed in touch since then too. I wrote ‘Can I Can U’ thinking that it would be a song celebrating love and our queer community and that it would be a dream to share this song with Skin. When she accepted to write and sing on it, I couldn't believe it. When I listen to the songs now, the only thing I can do is smile, having that “in love” stupid face and being very happy.
How do you usually write the lyrics, especially with some of the “heavier” subjects, do you need to be in a special state of mind?
Francesca: Lyrics are snapshots of moments, of specific feelings. I always have my notebook with me in my backpack to write down something. Some songs come from texts I already had, some others are written just to fit in the song, putting messages I want to bring to the people, sharing feelings and experiences. Sometimes lyrics are like lightning bolts.
I love how ‘Blue’ came together, as it’s described on your Bandcamp, having been written after a catamaran trip on the Stromboli Sea. Do any other songs on the record have specific origins like that?
Francesca: Every song starts from a special moment. For example, when I started working on the new album I was kinda stuck. ‘December 25th‘ is the first song I wrote for this album, it magically came out one day while I was playing the piano at home. I let the lyrics shed with tears while I was singing.
Do you have any favourite songs on the album, by the way? Or songs that might mean a little more to you in any way? I would imagine the last song might be a bit special.
Francesca: ‘Deep Dark’ is intense, very dark but full of the hope of being able to transform our broken selves into something that is a new version of us: “Design a new shape, with golden glue and blue, relight the new me with filtered sunbeams.” I don't have a favourite song, I know it maybe sounds naïve but I'm very happy with this record in its entirety.
What kind of music do you usually listen to? Is the music you make a reflection of your listening tastes, or are things not that direct?
Francesca: Music is always present in my life, and listening to it is something important. Even though I'm not regular in this. Sometimes I listen to a lot of music and some other times, especially when I compose, I don't listen to music at all. It would be a lie saying that what I've listened to in all these years is not in my music. We can subconsciously absorb a lot of information through music. It happens that I can find a reference between a specific part of a song I've been listening in the past also in childhood or teenage years and one of my songs.
Having another musician for a partner, do the two of you often discuss your own music? Are you allowed to have opinions on OvO and Alos and vice-versa she can have opinions on R.Y.F.? And how compatible are you in the music that you listen to?
Francesca: Of course I discuss and ask Stefania and Bruno for advice, they're my family and I'm very lucky to have such great musicians so close to me. Stefania was essential for me to understand that I could be braver, that I could follow my passions and desires and be a musician If I wanted to. Her opinion is important to me and vice-versa, she often asks me what I think of new recordings. Stefania and I have similar tastes especially on metal or American classics from the 20s till the 50s and 60s like Billie Holiday and all the great voices of soul music.
How do you see the future of R.Y.F.? Since it’s a solo project, do you feel that this is sort of your life’s work, as far as music is concerned?
Francesca: For the moment music is my work and I hope it will be forever. I can't see the future and I usually don't have big expectations because I'm not that kind of person, in addition expectations always disappoint. I follow my heart and I do what I love because I need to. If I will be in trouble in the future, I have done so many things in my life to get money or to survive that I'm sure I will be able to find a solution. I would love to tour much more in Europe and around the world. R.Y.F. is a name that I chose for myself and nobody gave it to me so I think it will be fine also in the future. If I will start something completely new I will think about a new name but for now that's enough.