Movement

Description

After the jazzy, intimate sounds of his collaborative album Dolphin (2023) with Greg Foat and Moses Boyd, Venetian maestro Gigi Masin returns to the ambient music that made his name with Movement, his first solo album since Calypso (2020) and his debut on Sacred Bones Records. Driven by overflowing creativity and an innate sense of rhythm, he navigates with ease between melancholic MIDI notes, techno-robotic sounds, soaring soundscapes, and deep aquatic atmospheres. Since his low-key debut in 1986, his first album Wind gradually won over a loyal audience through late-night radio, a success amplified by the sampling of the track "Clouds" by artists such as Björk, Post Malone, and many others. His fans today include Oneohtrix Point Never, Devendra Banhart, Caroline Polachek, and the late Kenny Wheeler. The new album, Movement, explores Masin's place among the masters of ambient, his artistic ambitions, and his aspirations for a scene he has seen grow exponentially since his beginnings. This record is also a tribute to movement and the sonic expression of the human body. Redefining the association of ambient with solitary listening and the cold academic world, Gigi has opened up to the world, channeling a somatic dimension that touches the body, not just the mind. "Bed on Mars" sets the tone for Masin's renewed curiosity, with cosmic atmospheres evoking the feeling of waking up without fear on a new planet, while the poignant synthesized trumpet and suspended atmosphere of "Lost" give the impression of floating in the middle of an unknown sea. Despite the death of his wife after a long illness and the loss of his musical archives in a flood, Gigi remains unwaveringly sincere and optimistic, dedicating himself body and soul to the search for beauty. The latest opus in a career that started slowly but is gradually asserting itself, Movement confirms Masin's place among the great names of ambient.