With four full-length CDs, soundtracks, live recordings, and busy world tours, Jennifer Gentle have become the most chameleon-esque band to emerge from Italy. They are here to share music pulses filled with baroque pop, carousel melodies and labyrinthine time signature teasers. I speak to Marco Fasolo (vocals and guitar) and Milo Scaglioni (bass and backing vocals) just before their gig at the Old Blue Last in London.

Dazed Digital: How do you see Jennifer Gentle’s music?
Marco Fasolo: Jennifer Gentle I see it as pop music, but strange pop music. I do like to classify our music within the general pop genre, though. The creepy, catchy, vibrant, loony adjectives I have heard about our music I do like too.

What type of film would you be a soundtrack of?
MF: If our music featured in a film, I’d say I would like it to be in any kind of movie. Our songs are varied so they could appear in a comedy or in a drama. We released a soundtrack for the Joe Meek documentary not long ago. And two years ago a Sundance Festival director was working on a movie and wanted us to be involved but, in the end, it didn’t work out. And that one was a horror film. Our music is very visual.

DD: What creative process do you follow?
MF: I think about images when I write songs and my aim is, in turn, to create images through the music – I expect for the people to do the same, to visualize those images. I come up first with an image and a riff but then the process takes time, sometimes months, you know. I think too much…

DD: Why does Syd Barrett influence you so much in your music?
MF: The dreamy essence and melancholy of Syd Barrett is what attracts me. His song writing is very unique. You can realize straight away it is his. That is what we try to create, personal music. It is difficult to be oneself but that is why I draw things from personal experiences.

DD: Is it true that you recorded in a studio whose previous owner had killed himself?
MF: It is true! Two years ago I moved all my equipment to this very old house, this old school, actually, and I brought all my equipment and I built a brand new studio and recorded there. And it was very creepy. The creepiness is reflected on my recordings because it was a very dark place. Then I moved to a new shiny studio within the same town… and now the music is much happier. We should release a second  version of The Midnight Room.

DD: Do you experiment with different instruments?
MF: We tend to keep instruments pretty standard. For our second album, I needed a marimba, and since we didn’t have much money, I used bottles that I filled up with water and tuned to get the right notes. It is very important to know how to make music with little equipment and be resourceful.

DD: Has your popularity abroad opened doors in your own country?
Milo Scaglioni: Italian journalists used to compare us to cartoons, which is cruel. But our sound will grow here and hopefully people will open their eyes over there as a consequence of our popularity. But, really, it doesn’t matter when or where it happens, if people want to come in and see us and like our sound, that’s all that matters to us.
MF: I have learned not to drop the towel and keep going and going. Some may have asked, “What are you doing?” So that made me persevere even more. I just want to write songs, make music, release records and play.

DD: What do you mostly look forward to when touring?
MS: Girls!
MF: Seeing the band grow musically…

DD: What are your influences besides music?
MF: I get influences a lot from Italian films, American horror movies, films of the 70’s…
MS: Porn movies…

DD: Fashion?
MS: Retro, yes, retro fashion
MF: I am not so much into fashion. I mean, well, of course, if I see a girl in a pretty dress, I say, “Wow… hmmm… err, wonderful dress!”

DD: What question would you like to be asked?
MF: Oaah … that’s a hard question! … I don’t know! ...
MS: Hmmm, "What are you doing tonight?"

Jennifer Gentle's EP Evanescent Land is out now.