NAUTILUS STUDIO - Horses of Neptune - Progressive Rock

Massimo Pierini announces the birth of the new progressive project "Horses of Neptune"
published 08-08-2022

Massimo Pierini  is an international eclectic composer born in Lucca, guitarist, singer, arranger and independent producer active in fields such as jazz, progressive rock, art rock, ambient, music for films and documentaries.
A multi-instrumentalist, in the studio he often also plays bass, piano, synths, percussion. A free spirit, he has declared himself against musical competitions and, despite an uncommon mental openness in terms of musical genres, in favor of preserving traditional musical languages.
From a very young age (about eight/ten years old) he developed a passion for Progressive Rock music, listening to groups of historical importance such as Jethro Tull, Le Orme, Genesis, PFM, Van Der Graaf Generator as well as the Beatles.
He trained as a self-taught player on the classical guitar addressing, as regards composing and playing, to music that is technically less complex but certainly not of lesser historical-artistic value such as soul-blues, boogie woogie, pop-rock... basically song international in English often with swing-jazz implications.
For years he dedicated himself to composing and playing live in formations he created, accumulating considerable experience in the field.
At a mature age the love for musical languages ​​left behind such as progressive rock, ambient, jazz and classical re-emerges.
Lover of stylistic coherence, the method chosen to deal with all these genres is the creation of separate projects, managed with wisdom within the Nautilus Studio, musical productions.

He studied computer science and began to experiment with the musical possibilities of the Commodore 64 SID circuit. A programmable circuit that remained legendary, created by the engineer Robert Yannes who would later found Ensoniq.
First, he transfers some minimalist arpeggios created on the guitar to the computer for it to play:

«I was intrigued by the idea of ​​playing my arpeggios on the computer and being able to listen to them with different sounds. In this way some of them seemed more interesting to me»

then as he delves into the possibilities of this circuit, he will compose other more experimental but always fascinating pieces that can perhaps be placed in the ambient genre (such as Briny, Shea and Bass Praga), which exploit the programmability of the SID circuit and its effects more fully . Little by little a work (a set of pieces) took shape which he called Images (images of a futuristic present).

«Images was a series of small musical paintings, with a minimalistic and at the same time imaginative flavor, inspired by astronomy, which I have loved since I was a child, and science fiction stories; musically some pieces are influenced by Bach's preludes and fugues, in fact I called some of these "raptus" followed by a number, but generally they are pieces that I would define as contemplative and ecstatic, I would say pleasant to listen to, a youthful but fundamental work which I still feel connected to».

Today Massimo Pierini is an appreciated composer, who writes all the parts of his pieces, multi-instrumentalist, creator of musical projects such as the brand new Progressive Rock project "Horses of Neptune" which we will talk about shortly, he has created a small private studio the Nautilus Studio which he uses to produce his projects together with his collaborating musicians

«it is almost paradoxical actually!  I started out as self-taught playing guitar and pianola by ear and writing songs in a continuous stream, then at the age of twenty-five I took my exams at the SIAE and there began a turning point... today I find myself writing all the parts even in the songs, as if it were classical music!»

In fact, between 1989 and 1994 Massimo also tries his hand at writing some pieces of classical music: pieces for solo piano or for small instrumental groups, especially duos (chamber music).

«For some years I had listened almost exclusively to classical music, jazz and contemporary music because I wanted to get a culture in those areas.
I had started almost as a game by composing some eighteenth-century style things, then after buying my synth which provided me with an acceptable piano sound, I felt inspired and composed some songs that more faithfully expressed my musical sensibility, including some Lieder. In reality, I didn't have any strong ambition to make classical music, so these pieces remained closed in the drawer. Let's say it was a phase, during which I had also met the conductor Herbert Handt and had begun to collaborate with his musical association. Anyway we had established a relationship of personal sympathy. He encouraged me to continue: he said that I had ideas and that I should just learn to add voices or orchestrate. However, having written an astronomical number of songs, I decided to come back down to earth.
I recently listened to these pieces of classical music and some surprised me. So in my small way, after all maybe I will publish something in this area too.»

In the early 90s, Massimo begins a growth path that leads him to create his own private recording studio.

«in '92 I created my first MIDI system which allowed me to develop my skills as an arranger. Then in 2001 I began to deal with audio recording independently, starting from my instrument: the guitar.
In 2003 I released my first self-produced album.
Since 2006 I have improved my understanding of an instrument such as the drums, which had fascinated me since I was a child and to which composers generally are not interested, leaving it entirely to the drummers.
I collaborated with a couple of talented singers from northern Italy producing my jazz song "Look Look Look" and some songs close to progressive rock "Run Away from Martian Spiders" and "I See a Shadow".
It's my innate curiosity that brought me forward, the desire to always improve myself... the beauty of music is that you never stop learning, so there's no way to get bored»

Horses of Neptune 
«It's a project for the future but one that comes from far away... born from the determination to produce a group of mainly instrumental songs, which I wrote in the year I lost my mother, a year in which I was in a particular state of mind: I felt detached from the world and I had the feeling that words had no sense.
They are pieces that I have had there for many years but that I had never considered publishing, not knowing exactly what use to make of them... in which project to place them. I didn't feel like starting a progressive band.
Among other things there is this personal, intimate, almost spiritual aspect... in several of them I had used sounds of some exotic instruments such as the sitar and the koto.
I've always been aware of the quality of these songs but I wanted to produce them well. I was involved body and soul in other projects whereas this is a type of music that absorbs you, that requires time and dedication.
Recently I have decided to produce a pilot song of the project, or maybe two, one for sure will be, Dry Floor and Clean Sea one of the few songs that have lyrics, perhaps anticipated by the instrumental October.
I will follow these singles with the first album of mostly instrumental songs I was talking about.
The title of the Horses of Neptune project comes in part from my interest in mythology, my connection to water.
Furthermore, "The Horses of Neptune" is the title of a painting by the English painter, Walter Crane. It represents for me the image of an irrepressible force of nature, which cannot be contained, a bit like the artistic inspiration»


   


For Massimo Pierini progressive Rock is not the way to represent "dream worlds", but the way to immerse oneself deeply in our being and to face some of the problems in which we are immersed as a human race without falling into bonhomie but rather, where necessary , sharpening the knives of philosophical and social criticism, raising uncomfortable questions.

«Dry floor and clean sea is about how we wrapped ourselves up, ending up on a dry floor, like fish suddenly unable to breathe. I'm not interested in politics or even happiness in which I've never believed... I leave these things to the superficial... I'm interested in questions more than answers... I don't trust and I'm not satisfied with easy answers, I would like to stimulate people to ask themselves questions and not to blindly believe what is being offered to them as truth or as a lifestyle that it is not permissible to escape»

We finished the excursus on this artist who is certainly relevant both creatively and for his historical culture of the progressive genre, asking him how the "Horses of Neptune" project will develop.

«For the moment Horses of Neptune is only a recording project. I'm not saying I don't think about forming a band at all, but it's just a future option.
Progressive music is a niche music that is not particularly in demand and at the same time producing it requires considerable economic and time efforts.
Without any kind of economic return and on the basis of passion alone, it is very difficult to decide to do it.  Let's say that it should be made known to the new generations but journalists and radio DJs should take charge of this.
I'm trying to understand with the little time I have available what kind of opportunities there may be to propose it, I have no illusions about it but I try to keep an open attitude... because the horses are pawing! First of all I will release the unreleased songs of 2002 in an album together with Dry Floor and Clean Sea.
I don't miss the material. I would also have songs composed at a young age recorded in an adventurous way on old cassette tapes, with a simple guitar, which I'd like to recover: obviously they need to be developed but it won't be a problem for me. Also I have some new material for a concept album that I prefer not to reveal anything about at the moment.
For the future I do not exclude any kind of development, for example... apart from rare cases, I have always written and arranged everything independently, but for this reason I would also like to write something for or together with my childhood favorites, such as Steve Hackett ... maybe it will remain just a dream, because this is obviously not up to me.»
Copyright by Nautilus Multimedia