Michele Ducci releases Snail in the Clouds: An Ambitious Art Pop Album
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.
The tracks of the album are diverse in tempo, tone and instrumentation.
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 album is out now on Monotreme Records, and the film will be released on the 26th of June. A Limited edition 200 copies 180 g vinyl LP with poster insert and digital download will be released in July. You can pre-order it now from our webshop or Bandcamp page.
Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, The Great Book of Nature, is an official selection for the 2026 Venice Shorts 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
Recorded at 4am Studios.
Produced by Simon Milner
UK press: Cannonball PR – terry@cannonballpr.com
Europe press: Five Roses Press – agent.julien@fiverosespress.net
MICHELE DUCCI
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