Sandi Glowe: alternative rock for a world stoned on social networks

How did you follow music over a decade ago? Which were your favourite channels? The years when we moved from MySpace to Facebook have already a precise definition, but what was happening earlier?

A whole generation probably doesn’t even remember it. There is no more memory of that world made of paper music magazines, mailing lists and really useful Internet sites that worked as common platforms for potential listeners. Better or worse than today, that’s not the point. However, what we see today is a music market strictly dependent on this decade’s social structure. Artists have their own Facebook page, sometimes they come up as media influencers or opinion leaders before actually being artists. It is not uncommon to find bands on Instagram and other channels and they don’t even know why they are there. It marks the presence: being there, fill the spaces, that’s what matters. Constantly afraid to miss a potential audience.

Sandi2

Sandi Glowe is not afraid of that. She is a young artist in her 20s, she comes from Rome and now she is located in Manchester, following her artistic ambitions in those life years when you are usually committed to some university project, perhaps with some pressure from your own parents. Luckily, hers are classical musicians and they understood her needs. Sandi already marked several British stages and she showed up already at BIMM, the important music college adjacent to the Art Gallery of Ian Curtis’ city. She happened to meet some guys interested in the projects and they immediately teamed up, recording in short time their first EP: The Hidden Life.

A work that perfectly fits with the girl’s charisma: the warmth of a guitar influenced by John Frusciante, caressed by the clouds of the city. It slips like raindrops on the street lamps of a dream pop gentle voice. Introspection and a pinch of disillusionment, instrumental bases that recall Cocteau Twins, a shady blanket of blues. Notes that follow words with lights off, verses that narrate a sea of lives too perfect and too much exposed, in a world where everything comes with a click.

The title celebrates precisely that portion of our existences that should not appear to anyone through smartphones, that oasis of privacy that remains in our hands and that we should never give away for some likes or hearts. These songs are spontaneous, there is no makeup or tricks, they arrive just like they are recorded in the first shot, as an additional demonstration of authenticity. Those little imperfections are something to be proud about and match perfectly the stylistic coordinates of the project. Try to listen to Silent Town: remember PJ Harvey in the early 2000s?

Thehiddenlife
The Hidden Life’s artwork

According to this idea, you won’t find a Facebook official page of Sandi Glowe, you won’t be able to discover hashtagged photos of her on Instagram. And it’s not a matter of running away from progress at all costs (the album is on Spotify and other digital platforms). It’s a targeted choice for this present, in order to avoid the bad influences that social media have on people’s lives: they tend to absorb, according to the author, many of the free moments that you could use instead as creative chances, moments that you would spend deepening your passions.

There are those who act “retro” (much of today’s mainstream rock, think about Greta Van Fleet) and those who prefer to connect to listeners in a “vintage” way, where the invitation arrives by mailing list and the tag is rather done with spray cans. You can agree or not, but anyway it’s a message that makes you think: that’s the effect of Sandi’s personality.

Sandi Glowe
The official website and the mailing list
Spotify

Words: Federico Francesco Falco

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