DINO SABATINI Omonimo 2LP

OPAKOWANIE: GATEFOLD

As both a producer and the helmsman of the Outis Music label, Dino Sabatini has carved out a distinctive musical style that shows a great reverence for both ancient archetypes and future possibilities for change (see, for example, his “Mnemosyne” co-release with Edit Select, in which each track is dedicated to a separate Greek goddess). With one foot planted in a mysterious past and the other foot planted in a world yet to arrive, Sabatini’s works are carefully realized emotional journeys that intertwine shimmers of optimism with undercurrents of poignancy or nostalgia. His latest full-length offering, “Omonimo” (that’s “homonym” for non-speakers of Italian), brings all of this to fruition on a record that demands (and rewards) deep listening. After a pulsating “Foreword” massages the mind and prepares it for the story that Sabatini is about to tell, “Choosing the Right Way” blankets the listener in a rainy day ambience punctuated with tantalizingly distant vocal refrains and nimble piano. At once solemn and erotic, it sets the pace perfectly for a set of tracks that have a cohesive feel, yet all use their own sonic vocabulary and color palette to tell unique variations on the story. “It’s My Forest,” for example, sticks to the reliable trip-hop / mid-tempo framework while introducing quick snatches of tabla and signaling, hovering synth arpeggios. “Follow Me” retains the lush synth pads and cycling percussive loops of that track, and then things take a turn for the slightly darker with “The Unexpected,” a sudden uptick in percussive punch and apprehensive intensity. The album’s main, recurring motif of cascading note patterns continues on “Just When I Think About You.......