Italian underground ambient electronic legend Gigi Masin pushes the productive momentum of his past five years into the new decade with Calypso. Over the course of 16 lengthy tracks, the composer famously sampled by Björk proves again that his mind is a wealth of musical treasures.
Many emotions are traversed on the journey through Calypso's densely layered sound jungles, but the majority of it is resplendent in serene beauty. Horns and strings heave and sigh atop gauzy synths; piano and chimes twinkle across chill trip-hop beats; found sounds and voices are manipulated to create tactile tension in puddles of sonic warmth.
The whole experience is highly cinematic, referencing the language of myriad styles to convey Masin's interior world of sound; there are as many slow and dank late night club jams as there are romantic classical piano motifs, bold melodic orchestral themes and haunting sound design experiments. His musical restlessness is our gain. This is an inspired album and potential goldmine of samples for future generations.
(Apollo)Many emotions are traversed on the journey through Calypso's densely layered sound jungles, but the majority of it is resplendent in serene beauty. Horns and strings heave and sigh atop gauzy synths; piano and chimes twinkle across chill trip-hop beats; found sounds and voices are manipulated to create tactile tension in puddles of sonic warmth.
The whole experience is highly cinematic, referencing the language of myriad styles to convey Masin's interior world of sound; there are as many slow and dank late night club jams as there are romantic classical piano motifs, bold melodic orchestral themes and haunting sound design experiments. His musical restlessness is our gain. This is an inspired album and potential goldmine of samples for future generations.