Europiana

During the second half of 2020, Jack Savoretti entered Abbey Road Studios to record his seventh album. Lockdown had only just lifted, and adrenalin was running high. “Those 10 days were pretty intense,” the Oxfordshire-based singer-songwriter tells Apple Music. “It was 10 of the most emotional days I’ve ever had. I’ve never heard my band play the way they played on this record. And I think a lot of that has to do with releasing a bunch of animals from their cage, back into the wild.” The title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to a sound that draws on the last 60 years of European pop, calling back to Savoretti’s childhood spent living and holidaying in various parts of the Continent. He hopes it will be transportive for listeners, echoing music that spilled out of beachside bars and clubs on fondly remembered trips. “You’re supposed to visualise the Mediterranean, a different type of heat,” he says. “It’s not nitty gritty in Europe. It’s glamorous. It’s romantic. It’s sexy. The aspirations of Europeans are different. We don’t dream about pickup trucks and dusty roads. We have different aspirations, and this music shows that. Serge Gainsbourg, Julio Iglesias, Gipsy Kings, ABBA—they all show that.” Europiana may be informed by music of the past, but the album is unquestionably a record of its time. Written in Savoretti’s living room during lockdown, it revels in escapism. The songs celebrate common ground in an age bruised by isolation and divisiveness. “As Europeans, we can argue about political differences, economic differences,” he says. “But we can’t argue about cultural differences. We are culturally intertwined—in our literature, our music, our art—whether we like it or not. And I think it’s worth celebrating. In a very lighthearted way, that’s what I’m trying to do with this record.” Read on for his track-by-track guide to that celebration. “I Remember Us” “This was a result of being at home, the world being on pause and leaving everything I am and everything m