Gatto Marte
Sogni Di Bimba

Too, too underrated and unknown. The great merit of this ensemble is having reached this point after six splendid studio albums, demonstrating unmatched consistency and sensitivity without making market booms, never selling out a single note of their repertoire, and without worrying about having to "break through" in some way. It is true that they are often more known abroad than on their native soil. So this is their seventh album and, while it confirms what has been their musical approach from the beginning, I also have to acknowledge a significant step forward, both in sound exploration and in compositional style, to achieve a result of great depth and relevance.

Basically, we are in the presence of a heterogeneous mix of classical, chamber, jazz, ethnic, and folk music, all filtered through the prism of progressive. This should not, in any way, be misleading, because the music of Gatto Marte is balanced in a way that it never becomes heavy: their overall musical discourse proposes "light" paths that are easily accessible even to those who are not accustomed to avant-garde and challenging themes. This is about wanting to unite the cultured language with the liveliness and carefreeness of more immediately accessible music, so much so that often, even recently, the group’s work is sought after to score silent films. "Sogni di Bimba" comes after the splendid "Marachelle" and amplifies the already started discourse that sees a greater contribution of ethnic and folk music, thus dusting off the group's typically classical approach with particles, if you will, that are atypical, but make everything airy and original, extraordinarily contemporary. All this is possible thanks to the band's great technical prowess that manages to disguise even complex or often intricate passages with calligraphic exercise, in a writing that is pure harmony, so that the alternations, highs and lows, counterpoints, and exploration have such high quality that everything becomes extraordinarily elegant.

The four guys: Nino Cotone on violin and percussion, Giuseppe Brancaccio on bassoon, Maximilian Brooks on piano and percussion, and the group leader, composer Pietro Lusvardi on bass, double bass, banjo, harmonica, and percussion, are assisted by other instrumentalists and their conservatory background is very clear.

The 15 tracks develop as short sequences that let the imagination run wild to the dreams of the title, and fantasize about this little girl who, now with a hoop ("Puella"), now with a flower ("Rosa"), now with a carnival mask or with some friend ("Carnevale sopra le nuvole," "Luca") plays, romps, and enjoys herself in the cheerfulness of a fresh June day, it's a nice thought, relaxing, to find a certain peace with oneself.

An excellent album, perhaps not their best, which remains, for me, "Leolombrico" from 2003, but this is new, just released and, once in a while, I feel like talking about something new.

Sioulette.