A Bit of History

Christabel Dreams is an Italian music project from Rome that blends elements of new wave and coldwave. It took its first steps in the autumn of 2005 with the founding trio consisting of Emmanuele Viola (bass), Christian Gatti (vocals), and Federico Viola (guitar). Drummer Francesco Mignogna (Date at Midnight) would join the band a few years later.

After an initial songwriting phase, the band entered the studio in 2007 to create its first work. The self-produced eponymous EP received a warm welcome from the specialized press, particularly Ritual Magazine, which hailed "Christabel Dreams" and their lead track "Life That Never Was" as the demo of the month. This was followed by a second EP, "The Broken Toy," in March 2009, during a time when CDs were still a relatively young promise on the local and underground music scene. They played at various clubs throughout the country and served as the opening act for many international darkwave artists, ranging from Cinema Strange to The Frozen Autumn, Red Zebra, and Nitzer Ebb, before taking the stage at the first edition of the Fano Moonlight Festival, where they shared the stage with Sex Gang Children.

Due to various member changes, lineup adjustments, and stylistic differences, Christabel Dreams remained inactive for about a decade. It was only in 2020 that Emmanuele and Christian decided to embark on a new adventure, transitioning to new electronic sounds and abandoning the use of guitars. This marked the birth of the band's first full-length album, "OUR KIND OF PLACE" (Wave Records, 2021). The album consists of ten tracks, including eight entirely new compositions, all written in the midst of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and accompanied by a few concerts. Not long after their reintroduction, in the autumn of 2022, Francesco Mignogna rejoined the project after a ten-year absence, further solidifying the band's lineup.

Francesco's return had a profound impact and prompted the current trio to return to the studio with the promise of a highly anticipated new album in 2023, the second ever in the history of this Roman project.

OUR KIND OF PLACE

Christabel Dreams back to work as a duo: Emmanuele Viola (bass and synth) and Christian Gatti (voice) take the decision to start a new adventure, moving to new electronic sound, without using guitar.

"OUR KIND OF PLACE" represents a human being condition, who finds again his own ambitions, the dreams, the excitement and pride and accepts new challenges with the awareness of the passing of time, accepting the disappointments and broken dreams, but never giving up that extraordinary place where the fire’s still burning. These songs were written in the midst of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, but never tell these facts. This work could be considered a sort of secret diary, in which the author's experiences dating from the end of the first decade of the new millennium have been collected.
The ghosts of the past are starring in this work, the songs form the soundtrack of these stories.

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