Sometimes all it takes is a chance meeting. Common Mama – the new project from Italian composer Ferdinando Arnò – clicked into place thanks to a snatch of vocals overheard in a tube station.
The busker was Jon Kenzie (pictured), who caught the attention of one of Arnò's friends. Aware that he was looking for a voice to fill the gaps in his latest project, they intervened. The next minute, Kenzie was on his way to Milan for a recording session.
“A friend of mine saw him in the tube and suggested him to me,” Arnò said. “I was searching and I just fell in love with his voice. I think he is a great singer, a great singer. He has a very strange mix of timbres. It's like a hippy Louis Armstrong or something. New and old. Rod Stewart with Bon Iver, but keeping his personality.”
Common Mama represents a slight break in tradition for Arnò, who has forged a successful career writing music for adverts. His work has soundtracked promos for, among others, BMW, Kellogg's, SAAB, Sky and Vodafone, while he has also written songs and produced records for other artists. Now, it's his turn, and he wants to play pop music.
“I've been doing music for commercials for 15 years, but even for commercials I always thought about writing songs,” he said. “Commercials gave me lots of inspiration. I worked with great directors. They always gave me inspiration for music. I just tried to think of the music as something very important.”
In recent months the band have hit the road in the US, including a performance at SXSW, and released their eponymous debut EP on July 22. Featuring A New Kind Of Something, a song Arnò was inspired to write only after hearing Kenzie sing, it's a slice of throwback, dancehall pop.
“After I finish something, I don't listen to it for a long while,” Arno said. “I'm really satisfied with it, it's what I wanted it to be. I'm satisfied with the graphics, I'm satisfied with the mix. I hope somebody else will like it.”
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