GIGI MASIN Vinilo y CD

Review: Dolphin is a new collaboration from UK jazz keyboardist Greg Foat and treasured Venetian ambient maestro Gigi Masin. The album was recorded in those strange years of 2021-2022, as both artists pooled their talents into mutual compositions which they then developed and embellished through the thoroughly modern practice of online file exchanges. There was time for some final recording sessions in person at a studio on the Isle Of Wight, where Moses Boyd, Tom Herbert and Siobhan Cosgrove lent their various instrumental talents to some of the pieces and the end result is a gorgeous, expansive trip through elevated musicianship and patient songwriting - a truly exquisite feast for the ears and mind.

Review: Both "Corner Song" and "The Flying Man" were first featured on Tempelhof and Gigi Masin's second collaborative album, 2016's arguably overlooked album Tsuki. Both are naturally worthy of a single release, though, as they deserve wider recognition. Both are quietly beautiful, drowsy and hazily picturesque, with gently percussive opener "Corner Song" just edging out the beat-less brilliance of "The Flying Man" - in which Masin delivers a weary and heart-aching vocal - in the "best track" stakes. On the flip you'll find a radical re-interpretation of "Corner Song" by New York producer Jex Opolis, who wraps Tempelhof and Masin's glistening guitars around a wonderfully colourful and tactile Balearic boogie groove.