Music like a Vespa ride through Rimini: on his second album, Valentino Vivace mixes Italian charm with eighties pastiche. But instead of wanderlust and nostalgia, “Discoteca Vivace” sounds above all like music for excess in the here and now. Your summer by the sea has officially begun.
People who don’t come from Zurich simply have to believe us when we say that nothing, absolutely nothing, is further removed from the charm of a dolce notte on the Amalfi Coast than the Zurich district of Oerlikon. The word alone: Oerlikon. As elegant as pesto on an incisor. But sometimes flowers grow through concrete. And so Zurich-Oerlikon is also home to the music studio of the artist whose sound perfectly captures the flair of an Italian summer. On his second album “Discoteca Vivace”, Valentino Vivace celebrates the intoxication of a party night somewhere between Liguria and Apulia, from the first Negroni before dark to the sunrise on the spiaggia. With his new work, the musician born in the canton of Ticino refines a formula that made him one of the country’s most interesting newcomers in 2022 with his debut album “Meteoriti”. Valentino’s eighties Luna Park look also plays a part in this: in gaudy tracksuits, fluffy silk shirts and an almost militant mullet, the singer looks like he parks bumper cars for a living and still breaks everyone’s hearts. A man who knows where the party continues after the lights go out. His artistic lightness of touch initially stemmed from academic motivation. Valentino wrote the first songs for the project as a master’s thesis for his university degree. He then spontaneously decided to release them professionally, not only awakening Campari Spritz cravings between Lake Geneva and Lake Constance, but also causing a stir outside Switzerland.
The right dose of dolce disco
While the influences of Valentino’s musical origins in indie pop still resonate on “Meteoriti”, “Discoteca Vivace” now dances completely uninhibited under the Italodisco mirror ball and pays tribute to the pioneers of the genre. The song “Baia Degli Angeli”, named after the legendary seventies nightclub, is a musical memorial to Pino D’Angiò, who died in 2024. But Valentino Vivace has not built a ghost house with his Discoteca, in which only the echoes of a bygone era are trapped. “I don’t want to make something that sounds exactly like it did 40 years ago,” says Valentino during his visit to the FACES editorial office. “Pure 80s Italodisco can be tiring in the long run. It has a kitsch factor that eventually becomes too much.” Vivace counteracts this overdose of kitsch by drawing on genres such as house music, especially the French Touch subgenre. An international mix of inspiration that is now paying off: “It was clear to me from the start that if I was going to set up this project, I had to think big. My dream is to reach people all over the world with this project,” says Valentino. “I’m not someone who likes to show off. That may be a Swiss characteristic. But it’s a false modesty to believe that artists from here can’t have the same success as those from England, for example.” No sooner said than done: Valentino Vivace’s success has since taken him to concerts in Germany, Mexico and – ovviamente – Italy. The singer has a great deal of respect for the gigs there. “The audience understands all the lyrics and could therefore be a little more critical.” Valentino Vivace has yet to experience any of this. He is met with a lot of amore, no matter where he lands. Because as soon as the 29-year-old grabs the microphone, neon-colored memories of Mediterranean party nights that we may never have experienced come to life. But what does Valentino Vivace actually consider to be part of such a notte speciale? A sea can’t hurt. Drinks, absolutely. A Campari Spritz, for example. Or a Coke, perhaps straight from a small glass bottle. Good styling is a must – the more colorful, the better. But: “The most important thing is the people you’re with. Then you can sit in a hole somewhere in Zurich.”
DISCOTECA VIVACE
No money for a vacation on the Adriatic? It happens. It’s been a few crazy weeks on the stock market. Valentino Vivace, on the other hand, is very popular. The Swiss artist’s Italo pop drips into your ears as pleasantly and freshly as melting water ice on your tongue. “Discoteca Vivace” is his second album. On it, Vivace pays homage to his idols from the eighties and kicks them into the musical present with his dancing boots. A direct hit that Roberto Baggio couldn’t land better on the soccer pitch. (Exception: the 1994 World Cup final, Scusi, in case that has opened up old wounds).
Turn it up! Valentino Vivace on Spotify.
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Photos: © Young & Aspiring
