Approaching this with no expectations I was hooked, pun intended, from beginning to end. Di Martino is an Italian guitarist hailing from Naples whose style and tunes are pretty original within the idiom the album lands in - traversing terrain that begins in a sort of John Abercrombie-like idyll and moves into the land of Julian Lage ever more - you will probably dig Di Martino a lot too for a rootsy laconic slowed way down cool flavour that permeates convincingly. The guitarist who is very restrained but teases as if he is about to explode on 'Nostalgia' is with a very subtle bassist and drummer. And the way via hypnotic chorus after chorus and certainly not a stagey young fogey approach at all Di Martino say on '200 km' can suddenly pitch bend and move the trajectory into another realm is so stimulating.
The bassist is Aldo Capasso who takes a good solo on 'Nostalgia' and drummer - Marco Gagliano. The pair appeared on the Pucciarelli Group's Uplift (Ubuntu) released earlier this year. The crucial thing is that the album works as a complete listen, you don't have to cherry pick at all. Seek this out asap. SG
Igor Di Martino, photo: Sara Borrelli
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