Cohesive arrangements come easiest to the classically trained. Look no further than Bruno Bavota for this to become well worn as a musical idea. In the first two tracks of “Re_Cordis”, the Italian composer paints a sunny, star-studded Pontiac dream.
The top-down approach also recalls Boards Of Canada in a descriptive way, albeit classically ordained. Piano flecks field out the rabbit warrens to provide wattage to the underground and overground spaces. Combined together, this is an illustrious, career-spanning debut on the Temporary Residence label. Bruno has been putting out albums heard by the Fluid Radio audience (reviewed by me) since around 2011 I believe. However, this is the first time his music has been in the company of great musicians like Matthew Robert Cooper, also known as Eluvium.
The label associate shares a similar vision with Bavota here; cloying piano, minimalist loops and, all the while, a sudden sustain. It sweeps out decay like a spring clean of wrapping paper on a child’s bedroom floor at Christmas time. The music has a Springtime feel, as does most of the music released under Temporary Residence’s winter-themed nature heritage. At the same odds, nevertheless, the music retains spatial calm of other seasons, such as fall leaves beside a cafe window, or the humid air of any movement one makes in the summer breeze.
To assess this album, this time, I took a pair of tracks, say 1-2, then 3-4, and repeated them to see if I would get bored. I did not. In fact, I was blissfully unaware if what I was hearing was not repetition, but generative music. Slightly different each time. And that’s exactly what happens here; the music is stuffed with minute pleasures, so they say, that make the art of the vignette so fossilised in ambient music history. Take the sparing loop of “Moving Clouds”, partnered next to a solemn synth.
“Re_Cordis” succeeds where other Bruno Bavota albums can be described as chronological progressions. That is to say, this LP is not just more of the same, it is another reinvention and strong string to Bruno’s bow. I’m especially pleased TR as a label got him on board for this one, as just like on 2015’s “Mediterraneo” and “La Casa Sulla Luna” from earlier in his continuum of records, one can tell that, just like Bruno once said: “music came to save my life, covering me with a huge, warm hug”. And for those interested in the music addressed here, you’ll be pleased that warm is exactly what this music feels like. You might not even need a hot water bottle this Spring with this album. Very fine.