Movement

Description

After the jazzy and 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 him famous with Movement, his first solo album since Calypso (2020) and his debut with Sacred Bones Records. Driven by overflowing creativity and an innate sense of rhythm, he effortlessly navigates between melancholic MIDI notes, techno-robotic sounds, soaring soundscapes, and deep aquatic atmospheres. Since his low-key beginnings in 1986, his first album Wind has gradually won 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. Today, he counts among his fans 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 music, 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 music with solitary listening and the cold academic world, Gigi has opened himself 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 sensation of waking up fearlessly on a new planet, while the poignant synthesized trumpet and the suspended atmosphere of "Lost" create the feeling of floating in 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 wholeheartedly to the pursuit of beauty. The latest opus of a career that started slowly but is gradually asserting itself, Movement confirms Masin's place among the great names in ambient music.