Gigi Masin
Calypso
Album · Downtempo · 2020
In 1986, Venice, Italy’s Gigi Masin recorded an ambient masterpiece, Wind, and then largely disappeared for decades, his work known only to collectors. But in the 2010s, as the ambient revival began resurfacing lost classics, Masin returned with a string of collaborations, including two acclaimed LPs in the trio Gaussian Curve (with Jonny Nash and Young Marco). Calypso is his first proper solo album in over a decade and his most ambitious statement since Wind. Across 16 tracks, Masin plays with the hallmarks of his work—limpid piano melodies, swirls of synthesiser, foggy reverb—and mixes them up, toying with their proportions, as though reinventing his sound with every song. The album is a veritable garden of forking paths: The opening title track delves into string-led classical minimalism and “Bellamore” sinks back into drowsy trip-hop, while the trumpets and pads of “Nefertiti” recall the bluesy drift of Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack. There are delicate piano etudes, Balearic ballads, medieval choirs and gorgeous new-age abstractions. The title aside, it’s all imbued with a distinctly Mediterranean energy, soft chords moving like waves lapping against a sailboat’s hull, sunbeams and sea salt permeating every undulating groove.