Conceived from sketches dating back several years and completed during 2020’s moment of collective reflection, Happy Floating is a stunning result of genre collapsing and unexpected metamorphoses. A highly collaborative work, the record features contributions by nineteen musicians, including Ruth Goller, Alex Binder, Heidi Bayer, Theresia Philipp, Antonia Hausmann, Jan Roth, among others.
Released in February 2022, this rich collage of field recordings, brass instruments, synth-strings and delicate sampling techniques oscillates between gentle familiarity and dreamlike distortions, inspiring a warmth that extends across time. Visually, this is underscored by Maximilian Schachtner’s uncanny cover artwork pairing a cotton-candied sunset with playful hand-drawn clouds next to an image of rustling plastic texture, applying the record’s theme of ambivalence to the vinyl sleeve. Throughout the record, Damian Dalla Torre seeks to explore a state of Happy Floating: in this pursuit, he remains self-aware of the fickle nature of carelessness, powerfully concentrating it in sonic form. Of the work, he says, “it's ambivalent–you are melancholic, but at the same time blatantly hopeful.” Damian Dalla Torre's work encapsulates the collective feeling of a generation in challenging times, where a careful sense of optimism persists against the backdrop of an increasingly murky world outside one’s own four walls. This is reflected in the tonal shifts of Happy Floating: from the computerized yearning and levitating flutes on “Bolzano” to the shapeshifting “heyheyhey” and blissful organ chords erupting onto brass stabs on “Where To Go”; to the intriguing juxtaposition of analogue guitar plucks and piano experimentations against the call and response of the Casio synth on “8:45,” and the unsettling drone of the album's closer, “SO,” disrupting the expectation of settling into the ease of resolution.
Buoyancy rises through the soaring melodies of the album’s title track “Alles Neu” like the symbolic phoenix from the ashes; a metaphor for the opportunities that arise with new beginnings. Euphoria may seem elusive, but in the determination to make peace with a world in flux, Damian Dalla Torre offers a compelling glimpse into an essential new artistic voice.

Composed & Produced by Damian Dalla Torre
Mixed by André Karius at Nada SoundDesign
Mastered by Martin Ruch at Control Room Berlin
Photography by Damian Dalla Torre
Illustration by Moriz Oberberger
Design by Maximilian Schachtner at Daily Dialogue
(c)(p)2022 Squama

  • Resident Advisor

    21.03.22
    Orchestral nu-jazz with an optimistic bent

    With his latest EP, Leipzig-based tenor saxophonist and producer Damian Dalla Torre explores a state of being that he dubs "happy floating." With 19 other musicians under his direction, he uses orchestral nu jazz as a vehicle for optimism, meditation and self-examination. No track on the EP embodies this principle more definitively than "Bolzano," which starts off with a brooding, overcast ambience until some impassioned electric bass summons a radiance that reveals the silver linings Torre promised. Quirky electronics and gentle flutes evoke enough bliss to untie mental knots and half-convince you that things can—maybe even will—get better.

    Read Review

  • Beat

    28.02.22
    Musiktipp

    Der Titel "Happy Floating" trifft hier den Nagel auf den Kopf, denn das Debüt des Newcomers Damian Dalla Torre ist Musik gewordenes Fließen. Irgendwo zwischen Jazz, Ambient und Electronica bewegen sich die acht Tracks des Leipziger Tenor-Saxofonisten, Komponisten und Producers, an denen 19 Künstler der britischen und deutschen Jazz-Szene beteiligt waren. Dabei kamen neben Field Recordings u. a. Blechblasinstrumente, Orgeln, Gitarre, Bässe, Synthesizer und Sampler zum Einsatz und erzeugen Collagen, die den schmalen Grat zwischen Befremdlichkeit und Schönheit beschreiten. Die instrumentalen Stücke sind grundsätzlich eher unaufdringlich und impressionistisch, überschreiten hin und wieder aber auch die Schwelle zu noisigen Eruptionen und experimentellen Klanginstallationen. Ein anspruchsvolles Werk, das sich nicht bei oberflächlichen Hören erschließt, sondern am besten mit guten Kopfhörern und der nötigen Ruhe genossen werden möchte.

  • Das Filter

    25.02.22

    Eine schöne Überraschung aus Leipzig, die bestens zu meinem Plan passt, dieses Wochenende intensivstes Cocooning zu betreiben. Der Musiker macht mit seiner Musik eigentlich genau das gleiche. Ganz behutsam legt er Faden auf Faden in seinem weiten, offenen und vor allem akustischen Klangkosmos aufeinander, um daraus wundervoll-anmutende und doch mitunter fordernde Kompositionen zu bauen. Es gibt Momente während der guten halben Stunde, in der die acht Stücke an uns vorbeiziehen, die mich an die Soundtrack-Arbeiten von The Notwist erinnern. Gerade dann, wenn die sparsamen Beats nicht vom smoothen Schlagzeug kommen, sondern im klassischen 8-Bit-Modus plockern. Doch es sind vor allem die Blechbläser und Querflöten, die den Sound von Damian Dalla Torre so besonders machen. Ich würde das gerne in der Philharmonie hören und den aufführenden Menschen Blumen schenken.

    Read Review

  • Damian Dalla Torre


    Damian Dalla Torre is an Italian multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer based in Leipzig, Germany. After his 2022 debut ‘Happy Floating’, he’s returning to Squama with sophomore follow-up ‘I Can Feel My Dreams’. From studying, then going onto play traditional jazz, the influence of electronic, techno and ambient music started to blend into Damian’s artistic output, fusing these genres together, and then gently detailing and warping the compositions with electronic production.

    • Happy Floating

      180g vinyl, riso-printed inlay

      € 25