Phase Shift: How the Fideles Sound Evolved Over the Years

Italian duo Fideles, fronted by Daniele Aprile and Mario Roberti, have engaged their fans with varying subgenres of electronic music since they launched in 2010.

Throughout Fideles’ formative years, their music leaned toward a more minimal tribal house tone marked by distinctive conga beats, faint lyrics in different languages, or reverbed sounds of English lyrics. The listener trusted the rhythmic drum lines, knowing they would always fall on the same beat. The backing instrumental percussion relied on hand drums, shakers, or synthy bass drums to back the entire tune.

Early on in Fideles’ discography, the duo told stories through repetitive synth leads that honed in the message. The single “Just a Dream” launches into a dreamy landscape underscored by a four-four beat. Following that drumline, a female voice enters the scene to offer esoteric advice.

“In those early days, there were choices to make and directions to choose,” she sings. This voice relays a story about life and the dreamlike aspect it evokes. While this tune hints at their evolving sound, it stays streamlined. 

Today, Fideles favors a more ethereal and progressive style of house music. While we saw glimpses of that in “Just a Dream,” their tone shifted around 2015 with the EP Beentouchedseries23. The artwork boasts a cyborg-like creature with multiple arms floating around a cubic object. The single “Shortly” teleports the listener to this otherworldly place with notable hi-hat placement and echoing synthesizers.

After Fideles shifted their sound, they focused more on buildups than distinct patterns to draw the listener into the music. When the beat drops, you find yourself in the world they’ve created. There is less black-and-white percussion and more clapping sounds, synth melodies, and experimental noise.

Their 2021 single "Awe" begins with a straight bass drum line, and new elements jump into the mix every few bars. By the first minute of the tune, swirling synths and crescendoing, trumpet-like sounds reverberate through the arrangement. When the intensity lowers, prominent keys ripple in the chromatic scale to encourage the swelling sounds to come back. This video-gamey sound transports you to a different dimension on the dancefloor.

Fideles’ newest releases flirt with questions of existentialism and mortality, all surrounded by pulsing rhythm and experimental basslines.