Pier Piras is an instrumentalist and dynamic musical visionary. His artistic objectives are unique and nuanced. The experiences that he creates are meant to take you to a softer plane of existence. Like in his latest release, ‘Nautilus’ the artist explores Mediterranean Folk in the context of free instrumentals, jazz and expressive compositions.
Each track is meant to evoke a mood, an atmosphere of feeling and movement, rather than a more mainstream theme. Aligned with the travel themes within the title, he goes for a diverse stylistic frame that spans across the world. From Latin blues to Moroccan percussion, modern jazz bass, and many more, the nuance is quite great.
Some tracks are playful and wilfully divergent. Like the opening composition, ‘Medusa’. With its dry bass grooves rolling through the soundscape like tumbleweed, it really carries you to an abstract frame of mind. The artist uses that free groove formula catchy beat, acapella, and vocal intersections. Hopping and hiccuping through the soundscape, you’ll thoroughly enjoy the magic of subtle dynamism in this track.
We see this type of free exploration and dry textural flows in tracks like ‘Ardere’ and ‘Bae Bae’ as well. However, in these tracks, he brings a soft layer of melody to run along as well. In the former, the grooves are dimensionalised with acapella beats and a wandering acoustic line. The occasional blues breeze that passes through it also is quite intoxicating.
In ‘Bae Bae’, you’ll experience the groove with lightened acoustic tips across the board. Warm vocals brim through the soundscape, and that tropical rhythm really creates a memorable aura within. In this one, the blues are Mediterranean, ebbing and flowing like blue sea water. ‘Oghes Infrànghidas’ has a cinematic flair to it. While the bass grooves travel light and buoyantly, Mila Trani’s vocals bring thoughtful, bluesy frills to the song. It evokes abstract movement flows in the mind. The artist beautifully loops raw Mediterranean blues with modern contemporary and polished Italian style blues. It’s remarkable.
‘Duna Cremisi’ shines with the dancing strings of the Oud. It takes you to the meditative and mellow transcendence of Middle Eastern, North African music. ‘Focus’ does the same thing but with its quirky beats and ladder style melodic build. It has a consistent feel throughout, scaling with an evocative sound. That build, all within the same bounds of sound keeps you in the same circle, roaming and exploring within the same energy environment.
‘Sofia’ has a percolating nature. It ushers in folk in a very real way. The violin of Francesco Moneti, flowing alongside the smooth rises of the guitar is very immersive. They develop a beautiful language as they flow across the soundscape together; all with the listener witnessing it.
The last song, ‘Nautilus’ is simple, plain almost. The artist closes the album with samples of styles from across the album, blending them smoothly, frame after frame, allowing the listener to savor the listening experience that they just had. Parts of it will trigger a feeling of space that you’ve been to, before floating on to the next frame. A thoughtful closing track that allows the listener to stay, recall, grow nostalgic and remember before moving on to the next thing. Listen Now!
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The album is available for streaming on popular sites like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music!
You can listen to ‘Nautilus’ by Pier Piras here -
