Many of those finding their way to Cristiano Crisci’s new album will be following a trail set down by his craftsmanship on Paul Simon’s last release.
What the Florence producer brought to Stranger To Stranger was a lightness of touch when it came to braiding the groove and it's a quality which he shows here again and again.
Like his 2014 debut album Tayi Bebba, Crisci is able to apply a widescreen approach to a sound which has elbowroom for everything from Middle-Eastern grace notes and footwork devilment to all kinds of hip-hop, electro and electronic blowouts.
It's to the Italian's credit that such detailed and diverse foundations actually achieve such sustainable structures as Elephant Serenade, the thumping amplification of Ar-Raqis and the sinewy pulse of A Thousand Skies Under Cepheus' Erudite Eyes (the latter aided and abetted by John Wizards).
An album full of confident, assured, good times.
