Chris Florio is a composer, producer, and musician from Ipswich, Massachusetts who has created over 40 compositions for orchestra, multimedia collaborations and released 12 albums on Passion Records. Originally only doing music in his free time while maintaining jobs, he has since shifted into making music professionally and released an album in collaboration with some talented musician associates titled The Bridge and the Waterfall. These musicians include Kenwood Dennard on drums, Wes Wirth on bass, Rob Flax on violin and Chris on guitar with them all doing vocals. Singer Aliel also does vocals.
The single from the album, “Twinkle,” marks a first for Chris. While the musicians across the album are longtime associates of his, this is his first time working with Aliel. But, she got on the same page as everyone quickly and her vocals blended effortlessly with their instrumentation. This collaborative method is the basis for all the music Chris makes. “I'll book a studio for three or four days straight. For this project, we just enjoyed improvising together the first two days. Then, we built and honed in on what came of that in the next few days and that became the seven song album. The final outcome was playing and recording in front of a live audience.” he said.
The song “Twinkle” captures the technical prowess and emotional resonance Chris tries to bring to all his music. It begins with a striped back acoustic guitar before barreling into a bombastic electric guitar solo by the time it ends. There’s even a bit of spontaneity reflected as singer Aliel began to add her own ideas to the song in real time which Chris embraced.
Creative expression is a through line in his work and he enjoys how different approaches to music can generate new results. For Chris, there is common ground amongst all music and composing is an effortless process. Each part comes together as the ideas flow from his mind to the page seamlessly. “Composing is intuitive for me. I just hold the pencil and let it come out. You do all the work before you write the music." he said.
However, composing can come with challenges as Chris discussed having to adjust for multiple reasons often. The instrument he has in mind for a composition may not be able to be played so he has to rewrite it for a different one. But, due to his breadth of knowledge, this gives him a chance to put his abilities to the test and present something new that the audience enjoys.
"I don't set out to make people feel something specific. I know I feel something when I make it but I'm happy as long as they feel something and that is useful to them when they hear it." he said. Now over four decades into his career, Chris has seen his music and the music in the world change across the years. Maintaining an open perspective is something that he and his colleagues have embraced. He is glad to see how new ideas are being brought to music and he also looks back on his work positively. "The music I wrote when I was younger was valid for then and it still holds up. The music from the past isn't better or worse. You have different experiences and it all comes into the music." he said.
Chris and his bandmates are looking forward to their upcoming live performances including their album release event on Sunday, November 1 at 1PM ET at The Cutting Room in New York City.
“Twinkle” from the album The Bridge and the Waterfall is available on streaming services now. You can see more of Chris Florio’s love for composing by following him on these platforms.
Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook
The Starlight PR Team thanks Chris Florio for taking the time to speak with us.
Go check out “Twinkle” and stream it now!
