GIGI MASIN - Movement

The music of Gigi Masin is one of those artistic realities that deserves far more than a simple review, and before scrolling through my thoughts on the new album "Movement", it might be worth reading the interview he gave OndaRock years ago.

The story of the Venetian artist is yet another chapter in a lineage of cult musicians who found more credit in the international market than among the deaf Italian public, another excellence who won over important admirers (from Bjork to Kenny Wheeler) before reaching a wider audience. No matter — luckily good music always has time on its side and isn't burdened by expiry dates. After all, Masin himself is well aware of the traps of provincialism that grip our country.

At this point, it's better to focus on the latest work by the musician, now seventy years old, who after roaming disparate places and cultures with the drive of a bionic explorer, channels his creative resources into a record that is at once solid and fluid. Masin's music encapsulates the natural artistic evolution of someone who grew up listening to both Weather Report and John Martyn, a creative flow that draws on Steely Dan, Harold Budd and David Sylvian with equal regard. It's along this invisible line that "Movement" sits, an album that owes a great deal to his recent collaboration with sound designer Rod Modell, and which also benefits from the excellent mastering work of Anacleto Vitolo.

Masin brings movement to seemingly still, static sonic matter, gives rhythm to placid melodies and hypnotic harmonic sequences, conjuring wonder ("Bed On Mars") and physical enchantment (the light funk swagger of "Lost"), with ecstatic, aching techno textures that at times brush up against post-Kraftwerk grandeur ("Golden"), more refined dancefloor sounds ("Deception Dance") and the most modern sampling techniques ("The Age Of Sampling"), all handled with a clarity and lucidity of intent that captivates and seduces.

One wonders whether behind the flourish of piano notes in the reflective "UMI" lies a certain sorrow brought on by two recent unhappy events (the loss of his wife and the destruction of instruments and archival material in a flood), but this is just one of the many pieces of a record that plays on apparent stillness.

"Movement" stays true to the Venetian musician's non-encyclopedic but exploratory nature, and this is the best key to reading a record that makes elegance and perseverance its core, leaving a truly lasting mark.

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17/06/2026