Bruno bavota has championed the piano since he first discovered its use as a musical instrument…
Much of the record is populated by the dorian (bright) and mixolydian (mixed and misty) types of modes and keys. This type of playing – more whole tones than semitones (more white notes than black; less jazz notes and more classic). The corresponding metric structure of the pieces – adhering to traditional 4 and 8 bar phrases – keeps momentum. Meanwhile the tempo is a glacial coastal eddy over the waves, while with some sharper waves, always brings back to shore. It’s this light effect of all the techniques put together that creates an ennui that is long lasting and free flowing.
The compositional clarion call is inclusive of strings as well, as on hugely emotive opener ‘Out Of The Blue’. The track sounds like a soundtrack to a non-sugary French or foreign film from somewhere long lost and idyllic.
Comparisons can quite obviously be made to contemporary composers such as Nils Frahm and Eluvium, but there is something different here. Something out of the blue. Something forgotten. A posted note from the outlands of time. The reverse refrain aesthetic of the violins punctuating early sections of the album signify this perfectly. In the sense that instrumental levity is a beacon for change and formlessness, but solidity at the same time. One of those great paradoxes of the more that is put in, sometimes the more room for change amidst possible clutter.
That is the most gorgeous thing amongst these misty tones, actually – the lack of clutter. The precision/rhythmicality. “Marea” is a slowly descending trip through G major down to E minor with a lovely sveltness to the strokes of the fingers. Additionally while pieces can be seen as quite short sometimes, the precision quality is heightened by their brevity.
It is hard to pick any fault. The imagery conjured up is also bright, vivid contours of lush fauna; golden fields. Certainly not something doueur and depressing. Rather, one of those bolts from the blue. A gift from a blue skyline.