“I Keep Running” marks the first single from A Forever Home, the upcoming album by The Same Stars—the solo project of Ermanno Valeriano (Portland Souvenir, Helen Back To Sparta, Machine Humaine), originally from Borgia, Italy and now based in the Czech Republic.
The album, despite being recorded in early 2022, remained unreleased for nearly three years. This is not due to artistic indecision, but rather the kind of personal and existential stalling that music sometimes can’t pull you out of.
The backstory behind A Forever Home is laid out clearly by Valeriano himself, who begins with a quiet reckoning: “Notes From The Fall,” the first album by The Same Stars released in 2020, was sparse, minimalist, and by now I’m regretting releasing it that way, so bare in terms of arrangements. That dissatisfaction pushed him into a different creative mode in the summer of 2021. He started writing new material with a clear goal in mind: to abandon the acoustic aesthetic and go electric—even without a band. “I want an electric album. Okay, I don’t have a band, but I couldn’t care less; I’ll do it anyway.”
By early 2022, he was in the studio, improvising much of the material on the spot. “I don’t program anything, I come up with all the guitar and vocal arrangements on the spot. The songs take shape, and I’m really satisfied.”
The record was completed by the end of that year. But instead of moving straight to release, life got in the way. Months passed. Then came an attempt to form a band and bring the songs to a live setting, but something didn’t sit right. “I try, but I feel like something’s off. I don’t feel comfortable. These old clothes are tight, uncomfortable. I don’t feel like singing on stage.”
Valeriano speaks about a disconnect between who he was during the writing and recording, and who he had become. The music didn’t feel like it belonged to him anymore. “I’m a different person now, a different musician, and I don’t like being forced to do something I don’t want to. I lose the love for these songs, for this record.”
Complicated life events and emotional exhaustion pushed the album further into the background. “It’s a damn tough time. And it’s already September 2024. Enough is enough. Chapter closed.”
Still, the record persisted. In the meantime, Valeriano formed another band that reflected his current state more truthfully. But he couldn’t just discard A Forever Home. “Throwing everything down the drain would be a shame. I need to release this record, it’s a matter of respect for the work, time, and energy spent on it.”
It was a DIY video shoot for “I Keep Running” that reignited a bit of excitement. Then came help from a friend, Carlo Pinchetti, who supported the record’s release. “He’s a huge help, and I feel like I can trust him, he’s a good guy.”
The result is an album marked by an emotional delay, more rooted in what was once felt than what is still true. There’s a warm indie alt-rock tone running through “I Keep Running,” a kind of hazy yet grounded sound that fits late summer evenings.
Valeriano doesn’t pretend it’s his most current work, and that honesty gives the track a weathered, human feel. “I wasn’t keen on doing it, because this album dredges up a lot of memories I’d rather forget.”
The title A Forever Home feels like it could be about music, geography, or something deeper—something chased but not quite caught. As Valeriano himself hints, quoting a line from The Catcher in the Rye, “Don’t tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”
