Solo piano plus electronics. Four words to describe in very simple terms what Italian pianist Fabio Giachino's Limitless amounts to. That's all that is simple here. What's complex is the panoramic imagination, the intertwining ideas, the redefinition of impressionism and the width of the pianist's playing canvas. There is a spirited Chick Corea sense of digging into tiny corners and drawing out the intricate beauty of distilled emotion to allow these flickers of insight to dance away from the shadows and into the light.

Giachino isn't particularly well-known beyond Italy. He had a group record in 2019 called At the Edges of the Horizon but this new studio affair gives a clearer sense of artistic vision and works on every level. The electronics as futuristic birdsong provide their own uneasy commentary that act as a parallel running and are interesting in themselves with their fizz and flash of insistent expression bursting to achieve their own articulacy and freedom. The difficult thing is to choose one track to leap to first. For me it's the beautiful and singularly inviting 'Brain Connection'. But I'm torn and the rhapsodic quality unfurled on 'Calm Down' is very moving and may even be the most memorable of all the riches laid out on Limitless. SG

Fabio Giachino, top. Photo: via Twitter