The Silkway Riders – Music

An Experimental Music Project by Massimo Cravich

An Independent Music Project Without Boundaries

The Silkway Riders is the way I decompress after completing long periods of drawing work. Some drawings can take more than a year to complete, and once they are finished I feel the need to detach, to breathe, and to shift into another creative space. Fortunately, music has always been a passion almost as strong as drawing itself.

In these moments I try to create sound environments that accompany different moments of the day — essentially personal soundtracks for everyday life. I look for the sound that would fit a certain mood or situation and, if it does not exist, I try to create it. This is why my music is entirely instrumental. My approach is not about telling stories in words, but about shaping atmospheres that can dress time and emotion like a tailor-made garment, adapting naturally to different inner landscapes.

How the Music Is Created

Some of these free explorations gradually take the form of complete pieces; when that happens, I record and sometimes release them. At other times the pleasure lies simply in playing with sounds and genres. Play is a fundamental element of my creative process, especially in drawing, where the observer is invited to explore, wander, and discover hidden details. With music I follow the same attitude: I mix distant elements, unexpected references and contrasting styles, connecting them through an inner logic that may be clear only to me, while inviting the listener to follow the thread and enjoy the journey.

From T.L.E. to The Silkway Riders

My relationship with music originally grew out of live performance and collaboration with other musicians. In the late 1980s and 1990s I founded T.L.E., an experimental project created to accompany poetry readings, art openings, and multidisciplinary performances. That experience involved a strong exploration of electronic textures blended with acoustic and non-Western instruments, and a constant dialogue between sound, space, and visual environments. Even if that phase was relatively brief, it deeply shaped the way I still approach sound today: as something that interacts with places, images, and human presence rather than as a purely autonomous object.

In this sense, The Silkway Riders is also the playful gesture of an enthusiast experimenting freely with the tools, sounds, and conventions of the music world — not to imitate them, but to explore them with curiosity and lightness, much like one explores a box of favorite objects. I do not aim to create “high” music or masterpieces. These tracks are made with care, affection, and the same patient, almost obsessive attention to detail that I dedicate to my drawings. They are simply sincere pieces of sound, built with love and curiosity, meant to accompany moments of listening, wandering, and quiet discovery.