“Zemlja” arrives today and marks the return of Earthset to the format of the song, after several years dedicated to cine-concerts and soundtracks for silent films. The Bologna quartet — Luigi Varanese, Emanuele Orsini, Costantino Mazzoccoli, and Ezio Romano — have spent over a decade moving across the wide spectrum of rock.
From their alternative debut “In a State of Altered Unconsciousness” (2015), through the indie leanings of “POPISM” (2017), to the experimental textures of “bound” (2022), Earthset have always blurred categories. Their work has mixed noise and melody, sometimes drifting into hardcore, sometimes into post-rock balladry, always marked by sharp mood shifts.
Parallel to their own records, Earthset built a strong connection with cinema. Collaborating with Cineteca di Bologna and Soundscreen Film Festival di Ravenna, they produced four cine-concerts: “L’Uomo Meccanico” (released as an LP in 2020 after a long tour), “Nosferatu” (2020), “The Earth” (2022), and “The Adventures of Prince Ahmed” (2024). The band’s most recent album, the soundtrack to “Nosferatu,” came out in October 2023. Now, with “Zemlja,” they deliberately step back to songwriting, opening a new chapter.
The song carries themes of anger, fear, and helplessness in the face of a reality that feels out of control and sliding toward hatred and violence. The band describes it as a track where these darker currents meet the possibility of hope: “But it is not everything is lost… a song, fuels the hope of a different future, where we can dream, spread colors and rediscover the union between mankind and the earth that lives.” They call it directly: “This is ‘Zemlja.’ This is our song for the earth.”
The lyrics reinforce this tension, opening with:
“How can we describe to you these feelings of anger and fear that dwell in our hearts?
Because we know you’ll never want to deal with the Truth.
It’s easy requiring when consequence won’t fall onto you.”
But the song also turns outward, insisting on action:
“We’ll take the scene
Build a place for us to dream
We’ll cut your strings,
Smashing colors as far as we can
We’ll take the scene
Build a place for us to dream
We’ll cut your strings,
Singing our song for the earth.”
“Zemlja” was written by Orsini, Romano, Varanese, and Mazzoccoli. Recordings and mixing were handled by Mazzoccoli at OL – Music Studio, with mastering by Claudio Adamo at Fonoprint Studios
