RIVA – L’Amante Infelice
It is striking to realise that L’Amante Infelice is Riva’s first album. Although the producer has delivered a steady stream of successful singles, this project introduces an entirely new dimension to his work. Far removed from the immediacy of Pazzeska or Sexie Selfie, the album signals a deliberate turn toward a more mature and exploratory sound.
Built on immersive, maritime atmospheres, the record unfolds like a half-hour drift between open water and shore. Its largely ambient palette evokes the act of collecting shells along a desolate coastline.
I opens the album with a grand, luminous arrangement: sudden winter light flooding through a window. II, featuring recurring vocal contributions from Giungla, grounds the abstraction with the refrain “Voglio andare via da qui” (“I want to go away from here”), establishing the sense of perpetual longing that runs throughout the record. The vinyl imagery of a solitary man on an empty beach reinforces this emotional undercurrent.
SESSO GAY BAREBACK ALL’APERTO SU UNA SPIAGGIA introduces a moment of serene expansiveness, where drifting synths and soft echoes capture the quiet authority of an enormous body of still water. BLU, the album’s lead single, moves through spiralling melodies and disorienting harmonies before resolving into a gentle orchestral reprise. With III–IV, the project leans confidently into its ambient and IDM influences, deepening its psychedelic contour.
V shifts into a sunlit acoustic mode, conjuring the sensation of speeding across open sea while siren-like voices and strong wind frame the scene. VI extends this momentum with a pulsing beat, acoustic elements, and intertwined vocals from Riva and Giungla. The following track, VII, stands as one of the album’s most compelling moments: over a restless techno foundation that harkens back to Riva’s club background, Giungla repeats “La mia casa sei tu” (“You are my home”), a line that resonates with the album’s themes of yearning and return. Its companion piece, VII (AMBIENT), and the final track, VIII, close the journey with fluid, whirling motifs and a steady rhythmic undertow, guiding the listener back toward the shore.
Witnessing the evolution and arrival of L’Amante Infelice has been a privilege. It is a dreamlike work shaped from seafoam and crafted by one of Italy’s most inventive contemporary producers.
Artworks by Gio Pastori
Photographs by Alessandro Merlo
