left to right
Giolì wears
jacket + rings. Ritual Gartner
trousers. LaRoxx
boots: Dr. Martens
Assia wears
earrings + necklace. Vitaly
corset. Ritual
trousers. Dion Lee
boots. Franco Sarto
opposite.
Giolì wears
blazer. Gergana Ivanova
lace trousers. Marina Leight Atelier
sheer trousers. LaRoxx
Assia wears
earrings. Adinas
dress. Oraz
bra. Dundas
trousers. Marina Leight Atelier
Italian DJs Giolì & Assia aren’t your typical duo. Their sets are a sensory experience and they communicate beyond just notes to embody deeper meanings with their melodies and vocals. The Sicilian pair’s sound is multidimensional and complex, inspiring a whole new way of enjoying music. Their very personal approach to making music and distinctive performance style has brought them international recognition and admiration. As they plan to take over 2023, Schön! spoke with the talented artists about their latest album, touring and taking up space in the industry.
Nice to meet you! Let’s start our interview with the story of how you met and how your duo was formed.
Nice to meet you too and thanks for having us! We met on Facebook. Assia saw one of my [Giolì’s] videos playing the drums back in November 2014 and she decided to write to me. We never stopped talking after that. We had very similar life goals and dreams. We didn’t have a formal start, things sort of just happened as we followed our passion.
How did you find your artistic style when it comes to DJing?
We both have a lot of influences and listen to different kinds of music so we always try to give the same experience to our fans and crowd during our live shows and DJ sets. We love and listen to afro house, techno, underground music, but also indie electronic acts like Alt J, Woodkid, The XX.
In what way do you think your backgrounds show up in the music that you play?
Our background always show up because our DJ sets are like a journey. We can start with a more melodic beginning, playing the piano, that can turn into afro house rhythm and end with a more powerful techno part.
It’s so interesting to see how you divide work between each other. Assia is always about vocals, whereas Gioli is about instruments. How did you find your niche as a duo or was it something natural?
It was pretty natural, we started sharing our long live video format in 2019 and people reacted to them fast. With each video production we grew more and more. Our fans loved not just the music and video productions but also us as artists. It’s beautiful to have so many fans that have supported us since the beginning and they give us the strength to bring more and more for them.
left to right
Giolì wears
blazer. Gergana Ivanova
lace trousers. Marina Leight Atelier
sheer trousers. LaRoxx
boots. Saint Laurent
Assia wears
dress. Oraz
bra. Dundas
trousers. Marina Leight
Atelier boots. Serpenti
earrings. Adinas
opposite
Giolì wears
blazer. Area
trousers. Gergana Ivanova
Assia wears
jacket. Trendhaus
trousers. LaRoxx
It’s not as easy for women to break through and be taken seriously in the industry. How has your personal experience been?
It’s true that there is still a lot of skepticism towards female producers however the international scene is certainly improving a lot compared to the past. There are more and more women pursuing careers as producers, artists or songwriters and it’s only a matter of time before we get equal respect, opportunities and recognition. Personally, we have always had fans and collaborators who are very respectful of our work and art. We have rarely been mistreated as women but unfortunately have been discriminated [against for] belonging to the LGBT+ community.
Let’s discuss your latest work Fire, Hell and Holy Water. Can you give us some insight into working on this project?
After the US tour in December 2021, we arrived back home in Sicily very inspired and wanted to write an album that was very impactful to play live. We have always been fascinated by the concept of duality and have used the contrast between fire and holy water to describe the good and bad times in life. In particular, hell is a metaphor for depression and we used the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to give a message to those who, like Eurydice, find themselves trapped in hell. The message is to avoid waiting in vain for help from others because even Orpheus who – despite the love he felt for Eurydice – did nothing but condemn her back to her initial state. It is a hymn to self love and an invitation to seek strength within oneself.
What does the album symbolise for you both?
This album means so much to us! It represents us in every single nuance, from classical influences, to the underground world, to indie rock. We let ourselves be carried away by our creativity without setting limits to what we wanted to communicate and we are very proud of each song. It’s been like watching our first baby come to life.
left to right
Giolì wears
jacket. LAROXX
bralette. Mugler
Assia wears
jacket. LAROXX
How do you feel about your current tour? Where are your favourite cities to perform?
We have had such a crazy year of touring in so many places. It’s hard to put into a few words but we are super grateful for it. There are cities where we have wonderful memories and incredible shows like London, New York, Budapest, Chicago and Tel Aviv. We are also very excited to perform for the first time in countries we have never been to such as Brasil, Chile, and other parts of Latin America in 2023.
What is the most exciting thing about touring life?
The best part of touring is when we get talk and hang out with our fans at the end of each show. It’s nice to know their stories, to know how they found our music and to feel their love and energy. They often tell us that our music has helped them through difficult times in their lives, or that it has been supportive during the pandemic, so it’s great for us to know that we’ve built a bond with people who live miles and miles away from us. They are always very happy to meet us in person and so are we.
Lastly, what can we expect from you this year?
2023 will be an extremely busy year. We will be touring so many countries around the world that we haven’t ever been to and releasing new music and music videos! We also have lots of plans of working with fashion designers and hopefully attempting a few fashion shows if we have time. We can’t wait to show you guys!
left to right
Gioli wears
coat. 1017 ALYX 9SM
trousers. Valentino
boots. Franco Sarto
sunglasses + rings. Vitaly
Assia wears
coat. 1017 ALYX 9SM
bralette. Dundas
trousers. Commando
boots. Franco Sarto
sunglasses. Vitaly
opposite
Giolì wears
jacket + gartner. Ritual
trousers. LaRoxx
boots. Dr. Martens
rings. Vitaly
Assia wears
corset. Ritual
trousers. Dion Lee
boots. Franco Sarto
earrings + necklace. Vitaly
Gioli wears
coat. 1017 ALYX 9SM
trousers. Valentino
boots. Franco Sarto
sunglasses + rings. Vitaly
Assia wears
coat. 1017 ALYX 9SM
bralette. Dundas
trousers. Commando
boots. Franco Sarto
sunglasses. Vitaly
Tickets for Giolì & Assia’s 2023 tour are out now.
This Schön! online exclusive has been produced by
photography. Mazhar Badani
fashion + creative direction. Star Burleigh @ Celestine Agency
talent. Giolì + Assia
hair. Hailey Adickes Purpura @ Celestine Agency
makeup. Christopher Miles
fashion assistants. Lilit Shahinyan + Amana-Re Brown
3D artist. Julia Thun
editor. Rianon Vran
words. Nino Sichinava
Schön! Magazine is now available in print at Amazon,
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