GUI BORATTO – PENTAGRAM – KOMPAKT

ALBUMS / ELECTRONIC / TECHNO
 
Gui Boratto is a master at crafting an album from a number of different rhythmic profiles, and he does so again here. ‘Pentagram’ is an ideal title, and not just because the carefully constructed closing track conforms to the proportions of the shape. Barely a note feels out of place here, especially in tracks like ‘The Black Bookshelf’, showing off a blend of punchy rhythm track punctuated by flowing piano. The instrument returns in ‘Scene 2’, which sets its sights firmly on the big screen, and again Boratto asks his wife Luciana Villanova for a contribution, the vocal to ‘Overload’. The rolling beats of ‘Forgotten’ and heady textures of ‘Forgive Me’ make an energetic double header, but there is a sense of routine that sets in to the lyrics of ‘The Phoenix’, with Nathan Berger, thankfully rescued by the darkly tinged B.T. collaboration ‘Hallucination’ and the modular title track. Fans will enjoy for this opus for sure, but new recruits might want to delve further back in Boratto’s repertoire.
 
Ben Hogwood
3 out of 5