Michele Ducci - Snail in the Clouds

For his second studio album, Snail in the Clouds, Michele Ducci recruited Simon Milner (Is Tropical, Ysing) to record and produce the album in his 4 am Studios in London. The result is a lush, multi-layered pop album that showcases Ducci’s superb songwriting and vocal talents. To add to these riches, Ducci and his partner Letizia Mandolesi created an entire world populated by fantastical creatures, which they lovingly portray in an epic full-length animated video. 

The album and film tell the story of a planet called Snail, inhabited by hybrids – primarily a mixture between scorpions, snails and humans – who lead a life according to the style of Pythagoras, devoted to music. There is also a cloud man named Agostos, a writer of musical operettas, who together with a talking smoke machine called Doctor Subtilis, begins to kill all hybrids, targeting in particular the hybrid musician Diodoros and his band, in an effort to steal the ark of melodies, an ancient ship that allows the whole planet to survive with music and joy.

Follow the Sun is a radiant slice of psychedelic tinged pop with a joyously uplifting chorus. Rain on Me channels the synth-heavy soundscapes and dancing bass of Underworld’s Born Slippy behind Ducci’s cracked, world-weary vocals. Don’t Stress Her opens with a rhythmic drumbeat that is soon joined by a sinuous trail of violin and saxophone that conjures up the wave of a voice in filigree, while Next to Me is a tender love song sung by Letizia Mandolesi accompanied by sparse piano and violin. Woman Like You pairs bright distorted electric guitar with an electronic drumbeat, adding in Ducci’s soulful vocals and a catchy uplifting chorus with Letizia Mandolesi’s sweet vocal harmonies. A vintage organ pedalboard operated by Ducci simultaneously generates chords, bass and rhythm, like a one-man band.

The lavish, limited edition (200 copies) 180 g LP includes a full-colour hand-drawn map of Planet Snail, a digital download coupon, a link to view the 28-minute animated film “Snail in the Clouds” plus a vinyl-only exclusive access to a short film entitled “The Fun. La ragazza che legge prima dell’appuntamento” Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, The Great Book of Nature, is an official selection for the 2026 London Lift-Off Film Festival.

Credits: 
Michele Ducci – piano, vocals, synthesiser, organ, pedalboard, synth bass, drums, shaker. Letizia Mandolesi – vocals, backing vocals, synthesiser, xylophone.
Simon Milner – drums, synths, percussion, accordion, vocals, electric guitar.
Shane Kennedy – electric guitar / bass guitar. Leo Kurunis – bass guitar.
Asher Preston – saxophone.
Bill Morris – electric guitar.
Paul Wale – bass guitar.
Lou Jenkins – vocals.
Agate Max – violin. Gregory Josephs – backing vocals, percussion.
Lyrics by Michele Ducci. 
Video by Michele Ducci and Letizia Mandolesi.

Tracklist

1 More Than One but Less Than Two
2 Rain on Me
3 Don't Stress Her
4 Agostos Adieu
5 Woman Like You
6 Follow The Sun
7 Orson Sells (Aria di Sorbetto)
8 Next to Me
9 Alabaster
10 Outro