When Midlife Crisis Strikes During Pandemic, Artist Gets Creative
CUMMING, GA, UNITED STATES, July 9, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ — When the global pandemic hit, binge watching and learning to bake were good distractions, but for Rodrigo Lopresti, 44, being forced to be indoors triggered a need to rediscover music, fine tune his rap skills – and smoke a little pot.
“Everybody’s at home consuming, but I’d rather be partaking in it, looking through this experience and creating,” Lopresti says. “It became a necessity, all of the frustration that had built up had to come out.”
Lopresti and his life-partner, Maayan Laufer, live in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, where they juggle raising their toddler, Paz, making music at home, along with writing, acting and directing.
Recording music under “The Hermitt,” Lopresti hits the eardrums fast, delivering his frantic wordplay in a confessional-style that is both stream of consciousness and unapologetic. In his debut single, “Resurrection Of Calamity,” part of a full album to be released later in the year, The Hermitt carries his message with looped strumming guitar riffs and head-bopping beats. He envelops the listener, talking shit with a Bukowski-influenced candor, coming across clear, confident and relaxed in his latest contribution to rap.
“Putting this single out feels really fulfilling,” Lopresti says. “It’s my point of view and I’m just experimenting with the craft of freestyle and relearning how to write songs in a different way. I have recorded 24 songs that speak to my experience as a 44-year-old. I think that freestyle has helped me approach writing in a different way.”
In “Resurrection Of Calamity” he boasts about being, “A master with the pen, every word uttered is Zen,” he later raps, “This Instagram addiction is rotting all our souls, worse than smoking crack, filling our heads with holes. But shit, I’m part of it, too. I like to post pictures of my prick, so I can read the comments when I’m down and blue.”
It’s been 18 years since The Hermitt released his first album, “& the Story of the Insects,” an underground indie rock-rap sleeper. With relatively no promotion, the album gained a mild following and caught the attention of film director Gus Van Sant, who included two of The Hermitt’s songs in the soundtrack for the movie “Last Days.”
From his punk rock beginnings in Miami, recording music in a do-it-yourself fashion was born out of necessity, Lopresti says.
“The whole idea was that back then, if you wanted to put out an album, you would have to go into a studio,” he said. “I recorded ‘& the Story of the Insects’ in a closet-studio in my apartment, and so that’s the inception, or the idea behind naming this art, The Hermitt.”
This time around, Lopresti is not doing it all by himself. He enlisted friend and cinematographer Andres Karu and director/producer Jayce Bartok to put together a music video for Resurrection of Calamity.
“It’s a lot less stressful than shooting a film, it’s like, ‘hey let’s just think of some cool locations, an interesting idea and art design it in a certain way,’” Lopresti explains.
Even though his new album was recorded at home, The Hermitt’s music is engineered by Rafols Morales, a Latin Grammy winner, who also happens to be his brother-in-law.
“I have matured, but ironically enough I think that the focus of this album is not like it’s like a wise gem,” Lopresti says. “It’s become more of like what the hell do I know, let me just have fun and create music.”
The first single “Resurrection Of Calamity” is available for download everywhere and the video can be viewed on YouTube. Follow @rodrigolopresti on Instagram for updates.
Rodrigo Lopresti
The Hermitt
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