Paloma Supersound

Four Flies sheds light on the catalogue of the enigmatic Paloma Records, a DIY record label founded in 1983 by Bolognese composer, arranger, conductor, and singer Paolo Zavallone, who, after a long career in pop music and at RAI television, decided to venture into the world of library music publishing.
The 12 tracks on this compilation were composed by Zavallone, who co-produced and co-arranged them with his friend Mauro Malavasi. The Paloma Records catalogue comprises just five LPs, all released – solely for circulation among industry professionals and not for commercial distribution – within a two-year period. Like typical library music albums, these LPs had very simple, plain artwork that hid their creators behind a game of smoke and mirrors – fanciful pseudonyms, names of non-existent studio bands, and even figureheads. But despite its enigmatic nature, today the label’s small catalogue reveals its extraordinary potential: it’s utterly iconic in the way it captures the sound of Italian music in the early ’80s, and not only in the library genre.
For many insiders, these tracks were simply sottofondi, or backgrounds, meaning incidental music intended solely to provide a certain mood or atmosphere for a film sequence, news feature, or television show, and created to fulfill a specific function rather than for artistic expression. And yet, so many years later it’s impossible not to see that the essence of this music has become more defined, that this sound has acquired its distinctive identity. A touch of ’80s nostalgia, but with a timeless quality that resonates with listeners today.