Bruno Bavota: Get Lost
Temporary Residence Ltd.

Get Lost signifies a significant step forward for Italian composer Bruno Bavota. Whereas his earlier output emphasized solo piano, the Napoli-based artist's first studio album since 2016's Out of the Blue finds him using outboard effects pedals and processors to expand on his core sound. But if the sound design is considerably more elaborate than it once was, the music still retains Bavota's signature, its romantic sweetness and heartfelt aroma intact. Much of the material exudes intimacy, as if the artist set out on a path of self-examination and then felt compelled to share it with listeners.

Animated by lilting piano patterns, the opening “Shelter” is as pretty as anything Bavota's released, but the music's now wrapped in an ethereal mist that amplifies its inherent dreaminess. Here and in most of the eleven pieces that follow, there's an atmospheric richness to the production that definitely enhances the listening experience. That said, no matter how elaborate Bavota's sound design is, piano remains the nucleus around which all other elements constellate. The impression that ultimately forms is that he hasn't so much altered his style but instead expanded upon it. To his credit, the effects he's incorporated into the productions are typically subtle ornamentations; at no time do they undermine the essence of a piece in being excessive or overbearing.

Trademark Bavota, “Darkest Light,” “Sneaking Behind the Falling Sky,” and the title track see animated piano figures shadowed by shimmering electronics, the effect intensifying the crystalline delicacy of the music in each case. “The Day That You Forgot” distances itself from other pieces in underpinning graceful piano melodies and ambient splashes with a clicking rhythm pattern suggestive of a distant train rolling along its tracks. “San Junipero” does something similar, though in this case it's the addition of acoustic guitar, strings, and drums that's the differentiating factor. An arrangement so expansive indicates just how far Bavota's traveled since his earlier releases.

As large a role as electronics play on the album, there are times, such as during the elegiac “Movement,” where he restricts the sound palette to acoustic elements, in this case piano, strings, and acoustic guitar. And anyone longing for the Bavota of old need only turn to the piano reveries “Your Eyes” and “Timeless,” which revert to the homespun intimacy of his early recordings, the productions so unadorned the creak of the piano bench is audible.

October 2019