Claudio Donzelli unveils haunting ambient classical portrait with ‘OSSESSIONE’

Italian composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Claudio Donzelli is poised to announce details of a brand new release with the arrival of ‘Ossessione’. A haunting, introspective thought piece drawing on classical and electronic soundscapes, underpinned by a shimmering, abstract piano melody.

In his newest piece, the Berlin-based composer and one third of international alternative folk rock band Mighty Oaks, collaborated with rising film-making duo ​HOMETOWN and dancers ​Jackson Carroll​ and ​Léa Salomon​ to create a surrealscape, audiovisual experience. Fusing music, cinematography and contemporary dance, they created a unique contribution to the discourse on contemporary practices of social media brands and its effect on the human brain. The 5-minute-long piece and its accompanying video are a metaphorical journey originating in a world of noise, consumption and addiction, portraying the fight to free oneself from the repetitive loop and the relentless search for a harmony that can never be gained in the endless feeds of the digital sphere.

In OSSESSIONE, Donzelli reflects on the three stages of the dopamine-reward loop – search, reward, disillusionment – through a piano melody, complemented by classical and electronic instrumentation. During the length of the track, the leading melody tilts into a sense of obsessiveness. Its odd measure of a 5/4 time signature creates anticipation and a sensation of continuously leaning towards the next moment without ever finishing what has been started moments earlier. Harmonies change, but the insisting, obsessive melody prevails – just like a social media user is drawn deeper and deeper into their feed, the listener is drawn into the depth of the track, into the very heart of obsession.

OSSESSIONE pre-empts Claudio Donzelli’s second album due to be released in November 2020, after 2017’s ​’Frammenti’​, his solo-debut. As a solo musician, he has previously shared the stage with Federico Albanese and Peter Broderick and has played at Lollapalooza Berlin 2018. His music has been described as dreamy, romantic, cinematic, choreographic, meditational, and hypnotic, comparing his work to the likes of Chilly Gonzales, Yann Tiersen, and Ludovico Einaudi.