By Ginevra Barbetti. Cover image by Khadiga Etman.
Some just play the piano, while others transform it into a narrative universe. Davide “Boosta” Dileo belongs firmly to the latter group. He is an artist who doesn’t just perform but also builds sonic landscapes, visions, and interior spaces. With his new album, Soloist, the co-founder of Subsonica returns to tell his story through the instrument that most profoundly embodies his artistic style: the piano.
This album marks a solemn and intimate return for Boosta, combining both power and vulnerability. Each note serves as a meaningful trajectory, a fragment of a world resonating within silence. Soloist is far more than an album; it represents a profound trust in music as pure expression, acting as a lyrical manifesto in noisy times. The album reaffirms the evocative power of stripped-down sound—essential, yet deeply meaningful. It is a bridge between the past and the future, where tradition meets experimentation. Throughout, the piano, whether bare or sonically enhanced, becomes a voice, a body, and an image.
Boosta Performs Soloist at Florence’s Sala Vanni
The tour reached Florence on May 7 at the intimate and evocative venue of Sala Vanni, organised by Associazione Musicus Concentus. There, amid soft light and attentive silence, the sound found its true home. It was in this setting that Boosta once again unveiled the depth of his vision.
Boosta: From Subsonica to Soloist
Dileo is a sonic storyteller, sound artist, and composer known for his experimentation and cross-pollination of styles. As a co-founder of the Turin-based band Subsonica, he has earned eight platinum records and collaborated with iconic artists such as Mina, Placebo, and Depeche Mode. Alongside his work with the band, Dileo has developed a unique and personal artistic voice that blends electronic music with piano, beginning with his 2021 album, Facile (2021), which reached the classical music charts and was featured by leading international outlets. That same year, he opened a dedicated exhibition space in Turin to explore sound as a transversal artistic language.
With his Post Piano Session (2022), distributed worldwide via his label, Torino Recording Club, Dileo showcased his sonic vision in prominent venues such as London’s Servant Jazz Quarters and Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome. His work has also been featured in prestigious institutions like Teatro alla Scala and OGR, often in collaboration with artists, including Roberto Bolle.
Reimagining the Piano: Tradition Deconstructed, Emotion Amplified
With Soloist, Boosta reestablishes himself as an innovator and sonic experimenter. He explains, “I play with the piano’s keys, I strip it down and then dress it in sound. Sometimes I even use objects, turning them into sound, into projects, into stories”. Following previous works, Facile and Post Piano Session, this new project serves as a convergence of tradition and avant-garde. It offers an immersive experience where the contemplative nature of pure sound coexists with electronic manipulation, creating emotional textures and unexplored acoustic landscapes inspired by the atmospheres of Brian Eno and Harold Budd.
Between Composition and Sound Art: Music as Emotional Excavation
At the core is emotional urgency. “Music must arise from a deep necessity; it’s the only way this job makes sense—it’s a privilege. Urgency brings with it a powerful emotional component—it’s the very story of what we’re experiencing,” he explains. For Boosta, composing is like an act of introspective excavation: “It’s like archaeology—you dig within yourself, stumble upon a fragment that may seem insignificant, and slowly bring it to light. Sometimes it remains just a shard; other times it evolves into something grand, like a Pompeian villa. That’s the ambition. But the true goal is to remove the unnecessary, arriving at just a few notes, where the relationship between melody and harmony becomes so perfect that it renders everything essential, yet deeply resonant.”
Boosta’s Radical Use of Silence in Soloist
His music originates not only in sound but also in silence. “Silence is the very essence of listening. In a crowded room where everyone is talking, it’s impossible to understand a message. Silence serves as both a home and a training ground—it allows you to connect with yourself, with others, and with what is being created in that moment. A single note can emerge from that silence, transforming into an extraordinarily powerful sonic gesture. One firework in total darkness is far more fascinating than a barrage of sounds in the middle of noise.” The act of playing the piano itself tells a story. “Musical writing is a true sonic calligraphy. We don’t write today as we did when we were twenty, and the same goes for music—energy, experience, and our sense of urgency evolve. That transformation becomes a narrative in itself.
Blending Piano and Electronics: Boosta’s Live Hybrid Setup
Boosta constantly experiments with new forms of performance, blending acoustic and electronic elements, tradition and innovation. “I try to expand the very concept of the piano. I’m certainly not the first or the best, but I’m a curious musician who uses instruments in unconventional ways—primarily to surprise myself. We often operate within mental patterns, strategies we’ve already internalised: breaking those patterns is challenging, but it’s wonderful and necessary.”
The live experience, too, has taken on new meaning for him compared to his work with Subsonica. “In a band, you’re protected—mistakes are shared, there’s a strong relational dynamic, you can play around. When I’m alone at the piano, I’m exposed. I have to be fully present. I build a sense of drama, aiming to create a flow and an immersive experience. I don’t want people to leave thinking, ‘He played well’—I want them to walk away with an emotion. I want the concert to be a space for dreaming and imagining different ways of being.”
Sonogramma: A Sound Art Lab Bridging Music and Visual Culture
In recent years, Dileo has removed sound from traditional contexts, exploring its performative, spatial, and installation-based dimensions. This research firmly places his practice within the realm of sound art, where auditory experience becomes physical and environmental. “Music, when it enters a real space, gains physicality. Paradoxically, by losing the temporal boundaries of a ‘closed’ composition, it becomes more open. Three-dimensionality gives it weight, allowing it to expand and be influenced by the space, the people, and the experience.”
This vision led to the creation of Sonogramma, his artist studio and open research lab in Turin. He describes it as “a reflection of something personal and unspoken, far from any desire for definition. It’s designed to contain and stimulate my creativity—a blurred circle between music and image that should never close. Here, sound—even in its most suspended silence—becomes a tangible presence.”
Places also carry emotional and creative significance in his work. “I’ve been fascinated by them since I was a child. I’d see lights on in houses early in the morning and wonder what it would be like to live there. Books, films, cities, rooms—everything can become a space for doing what I love.”
Boosta on Teaching the Next Generation of Electronic Musicians
There’s also a strong eye to the future, as he’s working on a unique educational project: an Electronic Music School for Children. “It’s the project I care about most—the one I hope to leave behind. Electronic music is a powerful playground for kids. It allows them to engage directly with sound, bypassing the complications of technique. It’s a space for pure exploration—an interactive medium that teaches them how to listen, even to others. We all know how important that skill is in life.”
