Bruno Sanfilippo – Upon Contact Reworked

Bruno Sanfilippo "Upon Contact Reworked" CD

"Upon Contact Reworked", released during May 2015 on ad21, is a very interesting project driven by Bruno Sanfilippo, an acclaimed Argentinian composer, who is based since 2000 in Barcelona, Spain. This collaboration features several of his colleagues across the globe, who focus on "Upon Contact", the original composition by Bruno Sanfilippo and charge it with their challenging artifices. The packaging of this CD is rather simple, it's a cardboard sleeve, but simply elegant with beautiful sparse artwork with additional insert, all designed by Bruno Sanfilippo's wife Ximena Contreras. A very nice work indeed!!!

"Upon Contact Reworked" collection opens with the initial composition, "Upon Contact", recorded by Bruno Sanfilippo at his Onix II Studio and mastered by Taylor Deupree. Intimate piano nuances immediately embrace each listener with utterly gorgeous subtlety scrupulously permeated by expansive glimpses of immersing stillness. This is deeply expressive minimalism and a true aural delicacy of introspective poignancy, meticulously intermingled with the visual part of the album. Bravo!!! Italian soundscaper Francesco Giannico is the first guest, who joins Bruno Sanfilippo and brings to the table his translucent urban recordings and sweepingly gliding evocations, which are hauntingly bridged with warm piano notes. Another beauty!!! Enigmatic drones of UK's Olan Mill take Bruno Sanfilippo's composition into intensely delightful hazy serenity, where long-buried memories awake. Portuguese sound manipulator Leonardo Rosado (now domiciled in Göteborg, Sweden) safely holds the piece on intense pathway, guarded by ambiguous dronescape, smoothly undulating through hissy terrains, while elusive piano rise and fall throughout. Intricately engrossing piece!!! The next "Upon Contact" is carved by Argentinian experimental composer Jorge Haro, his name is a brand new to me. Submerging hi-tech beep sounds add a brand new feel to Bruno Sanfilippo's mesmerizingly circling piano. Some remote dub-techno-infused fragments ephemerally emerge as well. A really intriguing blend!!! Quivion is another unknown name to me, this Swedish project basically continues the route taken by Jorge Haro, it's less experimental, more organic, although later the humming drone with piano softness is continuously counterpointed with distant intangible industrial beats and rumbles. Also the last guest, Greek sculptor Hior Chronik, now residing in Berlin, is new to me. His palette of distinctively subtle glitchy-like sounds masterfully reinforces the piano magic by the main protagonist, shifts the composition into gorgeously melancholic fields and provides a really gratifying conclusion to this cooperative effort.

I should add that all reworked contributions on this CD were mastered by Ian Hawgood and this collaborative work is available in a limited edition of 500 copies. For me, there is only one low point here, the length of this collection, which clocks to 37 minutes in total. I could easily imagine one or two additional reworked versions (maybe one by Bruno's fellow companion Max Corbacho with the infusion of his amorphously colossal drifts), but that's just my rough idea. Otherwise, this is a truly fruitful project exquisitely exhibiting a collective of kindred spirits within deeply expressive ambient/modern classical realms, who have masterfully enriched "Upon Contact" recording with their own distinguishing insignias. Well-done, Bruno (& Ximena), and kudos to all participating artists, you all have done a really wonderful job!!!

Richard Gürtler (Aug 15, 2015, Bratislava, Slovakia)