Italy, Catholicism and sexuality: Marco Mestichella has a story to tell

by | indieBerlin

We’ve come across a cool new voice – Marco Mestichella, originally from Italy, living in London, and releasing his EP Falling Walls with a listening party in Berlin (24.2 / Betahaus). We were so taken with his back story that we’ve decided to give it to you in three parts. The first part involves growing up in a small heavily Catholic town in Italy and realising pretty soon that you’re different from the others….
Marco Mestichella – Part One: The Artistry
Attempting to understand the development of an artist has no formula. Sure, there are prep schools teaching the technicalities of music and classes to improve a very amateur ability to draw. But it is arguably the art of living that connects mortals with auteurs. We could dissect artistic ability into three key components, the first being natural talent: Mozart’s abilities were surely an unfathomable wonder, given that he wrote symphony no.1 at the tender age of 8, which makes me feel slightly inadequate given that I spent most of that age cutting the hair of my sisters Barbies and not writing symphonies.
I spent most of that age cutting the hair of my sister’s Barbies
The second component is mastering the skill. This is the music school crowd; the Amy Winehouse’s, the Lily Allen’s, the Loyle Carner’s. These are the folk who bare talent, honed into stardom, showing that anybody can make it. In theory. I mean, Amy Winehouse paints a picture of artistic package perfection and if you haven’t heard hearty rapper Loyle Carner’s debut by now, then add it to your playlist. Everyone is constantly learning until the day they die and that law extends its hand to musicianship.
“Let the darkness shine through, you are the only truth”
But the final element that has the power to separate a true artist from the other (still valuable) herds of expressionists is story telling; the ability to speak about your life and your legacy. Artist Marco Mestichella -who’s influences lie in part in trip hop, but branch across the board of musical wonder – leaves his upbringing up for discussion and his music reflects that individuality. As an artist, what is it that makes Marco… Marco?

His story, like every other man and woman’s, is uniquely his. “Let the darkness shine through, you are the only truth” swoons Marco on ‘Truth’, a leading track from upcoming EP ‘Tales of Falling Walls’. That lyric has stuck with me. I have become attached to dear Marco, not just due to repeated listening of his aforementioned EP but for his sensitivity. I know where this line sits with me, but what lead him to physically write down those words? Marco’s life so far has been a track tread by no other, entwining shared experiences (Catholicism, explorations of sexuality) and thrusting them together, laced with parent/ child relationships known to no other individual in history and creating one unique life. The life of Marco Mestichella.
It’s easy to push to one side the feeling of otherness
Born in 1990 in the Abruzzo region of Italy, a small Catholic village close to Rome, Marco grew up aware of his differences. Being a 25 year old in Berlin or London (Marco’s current base), it’s easy to push to one side the feeling of otherness. Sure, present politics does nothing but remind us that being something other than a straight white male still boxes you somewhere to the side of almost every society in the world, but living in metropolitan cities certainly raps one in a blanket of support and acceptance. It wasn’t like that for nineties Marco.
“I knew who I was and what I wanted from a very early age and I was certain I had to go through a process of discovery, hard work and plenty of challenges.”
Without the religious routes holding his differences back, perhaps Marco’s story would have been different. If the material with which he sculpts is experience, then they are, somehow, worthwhile, potential difficulties aside. His biographical tendency in writing leaves his book open to read and also to wonder. Speaking of his desire for a father figure in ‘Process of Neglect’ from earlier e.p. ‘The Day I Killed my Ego’, the listener is witness to Marco’s belief in displaying that tapestry with a sheath of mystery, allowing room for interpretation, whilst still telling his story with sincerity.

 

[aesop_quote type=”block” background=”#282828″ text=”#ffffff” width=”90%” align=”left” size=”2″ quote=”When I write, in the studio, or wherever I am, I look back at my life, or inside to what’s happening now and look at those events like an external person. In fact, I feel like a director. I take footage of my life and I write soundtracks on it. But I tend not to be obvious about it.” parallax=”off” direction=”left” revealfx=”off”]

 

 

Marco’s relationship with his Father was an interesting one, lacking connection through his youth and figuring out paths with which to reject one another. Alongside the awkwardness of being the only male attending dance and singing classes (whilst the other’s typically played football), the narrative of Marco paying attention to his differences is what lead him through the dark tunnel towards the light at the end.

Our processes, however murky are what spur our self-development and creativity to bloom into meaning. The opening line of ‘Fragments of Light’, released in 2014 exclaims, “There is a purpose in the way that it goes, a reason why things will be fine, but we tend to only figure it out when we come to the end of the line”, consolidating the ideal that reflecting on negative past experiences will lead to a euphoric feeling of content.
Stick around – on Sunday we’ll be posting Part II of the Marco Mestichella story – panic attacks, darkness and light in London
Make sure to come along to Marco’s listening party in Betahaus, Berlin on 24.2, where you’ll get to hear the album in full, hang out and feel good.

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