Il Canto dell’Asino
Generic Animal is the pseudonym and solo project of Luca Galizia. The name originated from a little doodle of an animal he drew some years ago. Born in 1995, Luca has been making music for a while now: he plays guitar, writes, sings - and does it all exceptionally well. 2024 marks the release of “Il Canto dell’Asino”, his fifth album.
The new “generic animal” is the most original yet misunderstood - a perfect choice for an album that’s both fairytale-like, epic, and dystopian, balancing sarcasm and subtle irony. It’s the most undervalued creature on the farm, and beyond. The odd-looking, overlooked, often misinterpreted one. In a world of more exotic, elegant, and fascinating animals, the donkey stands out with its apparent contradictions and undeniable uniqueness. It’s now the cover star, title, and guiding spirit of Luca Galizia’s latest album. The record was co-produced with Venetian producer and sound designer Yakamoto Kotzuga, with whom a friendship blossomed into a fresh sound. Spanning three years of gestation, with some pieces dating back even further, this is a meticulously crafted work arriving two years after Luca’s last release. It’s a powerful soundscape made of flesh and bone: rock tinged with frantic R&B, Italian singer-songwriter influences infused with restless guitars, raw vocals, and untuned pianos. The guitar reigns supreme, breaking free of its usual confines - it’s reinvented and used to compose for other instruments, like piano and saxophone. The resulting sound is hard to define, challenging to label. Much like the donkey, whose nature is difficult to pin down - peaceful or irritable, braying in a mix of anger or joy - Generic Animal eludes categorization while staying true to its originality.
Generic Animal shot by Claudia Ferri. Courtesy of press office. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
We sat down with Luca to take a deep dive into this new album: powerful, like a punch that jolts you back to reality. The album is intricate, musically diverse yet cohesive. It reflects Generic Animal’s signature style while being more structured and commanding - a product of significant growth.
“It was quite a long process. I wouldn’t say trial and error, because that makes it sound like you’re forced to find a solution. It was more about grappling with a sense of dissatisfaction - not knowing if I’d finished something or if I’d barely started. That was the recurring feeling over these past three years. Honestly, it’s hard to answer because things just piled up naturally over time: people, influences both new and old, ideas. I learned a lot about myself, about what I like and don’t like, what I want and don’t want. But then this simply turned into a sort of idiosyncrasy, where the filter became very narrow. However, it’s not a filter of choices laid out in front of you to pick from. It’s more like a keyhole through which you look at things, and you have a very clear sense of what they are - nothing more, nothing less. So, while it might seem complex, it was actually quite simple. The mantra Giacomo (Yakamoto Kotzuga) and I kept in mind while producing was: <we want to give our best and offer listeners the best music possible>. It may sound presumptuous, but the aim was -and still is- to leave something meaningful for listeners while doing our absolute best. It was a slow process because the album is packed with ideas, all interconnected. There are many tones, small chapters, but everything was designed to form a cohesive whole. Some ideas didn’t even start as songs, but as interludes or instrumental sketches. It all came together without fear”.
Self-care and caring for others emerge as central themes in Luca’s new album.
This idea of caring is so important - listening to yourself is fundamental.
It’s about respecting the natural evolution of our needs and desires, something we should all value more. Emotional maturity is the heart of an artist’s growth, and taking care of your inner world is essential to building a narrative that’s both relatable and impactful.
“Personally, I didn’t take much care of myself. I reference this idea of self-care in a track I wrote near the end of the album’s creation - a sort of conclusion to a healing process. I’m someone who’s been very much carried along by life and by other people. Over the past few years, I’ve felt a bit lost in oblivion and haven’t focused much on what I truly thought or really wanted. Eventually, you start asking: <What do I want for myself? What makes me happy?>. Some songs explicitly address this realization, while others explore the opposite - wallowing in a limbo, a quicksand where all you see is gray and all you hear are others telling you what’s wrong with you. Yet there are moments of lightness and different kinds of weight. What’s most important to me is that there’s room in the listener’s mind for interpretation - that’s what I enjoy the most”.
The new album is the one of maturity. Within it, you can sense deviations in his path - it has a new identity, yet remains consistent with who Luca is and the stories he tells. Exiting your twenties is always challenging. The switch, in my opinion, is more of a mental shift than an age-related one. Personally, I’ve always been an extremely eclectic person; I’ve changed paths countless times and have often felt the stress of transitioning from being a multipotential child to an adult with responsibilities. Luca Galizia explores a wide range of experiences in this album, along with some key insights into how he navigated this journey of growth.
“My life, and the time during which this new music came together over the past four years, I imagine it as if it were a film. You know the constant lighting in movies? That’s how I picture it - paired with big concepts that may seem dramatic or emotional but are actually rooted in the beauty of simple things and the human connections I’ve been able to build and maintain over the past few years. It might sound complicated because my mind is a bit complicated, but it’s actually somehow simple. These have been difficult years for me, as they have been for many my age trying to build a career during COVID - with little money but still the privilege of being able to make art, to do what they wanted because they had a roof over their heads. I won’t deny that there’s a lot of struggle in what I do and in the way I do it, but in my head, it’s a film. A film that sometimes feels a bit black and white, then slowly turns sepia, and eventually becomes full color”.
Three albums that changed your life!
“Definitely music with guitars.
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins - if there’s a pop-rock but heavy rock crossover project that’s always blown my mind, it’s them.
Then, The Glow Pt. 2 by The Microphones - a vivid, well-done home recording. Guitars panned left and right, drums in the back, vocals upfront - it’s all so beautifully raw and strong. My first album definitely had echoes of that world.
And third… maybe Paranoid by Black Sabbath.
In these last three years I’ve been into Fleetwood Mac and all sorts of rock - so much musica that it’s absurd! (en. laughs)”.
Going back to the roots, this sweet-and-sour veil has always been a hallmark of the Generic Animal project. This melancholy has tenderly woven itself into Luca’s work, reshaping the underground scene in Italy. In terms of songwriting, Luca’s music has paved the way for new forms of melancholy, sonic evolution, and a reimagined sense of lightness, interpreted in a fresh way. What would you say to little Luca? How would you advise him? It’s a question I ask myself too, but I often don’t answer - I just tell myself to go to hell. Still, I think it’s such a beautiful thing to confront.
“Wow, tough one.
I think I’d tell 16-year-old me: <Just take that fucking solfeggio exam and keep studying music>, I would’ve done that if I had the chance. I was learning bass and had to choose - continue at the conservatory or sing in a band. I chose the band. My teacher supported my decision and said <Do what feels right. Go and play with a pick!>, which at the time was kind of taboo. I ended up learning guitar with advices from a bass teacher - a rare and awkward route, which meant it took me years to master the higher strings. But probably, more than anything, I’d tell young Luca: <Believe more in your artistic identity. Don’t just be a friend or a nice person>, because often, due to the kind of curiosity I have, the kind of lightness I carry, when I was younger, I allowed myself to get trapped in situations where I didn’t really know where they would lead - and they didn’t lead anywhere. There are definitely some things I would skip, because I really realize the uselessness of some struggles I went through during this project. Everything, of course, starts from a desire and a process of growth, but for some things, I definitely would have given myself a few slaps, for sure”.
