by rik -pingthings.com - Canada "Lush and beautiful organic ambience... "
Bruno Sanfilippo is an artist who is quickly developing a well-respected name for himself in ambient circles. With this in mind, the aptly titled "InTRO" is a great place to acquaint oneself with Bruno's talents. Made up of seven distinct pieces, "InTRO" presents a variety of styles and sounds that all showcase Sanfilippo's skills.
"InTROworld" opens the disc with a combination of eastern percussion and woodwinds. Voices, or maybe it's something else, play on the
edges of the track, adding a mystical and engaging sound to the proceedings. A very impressive opening and a suggestion of things to come.
"InTROmental" follows, drone textured ambience oscillating through the soundfield.
There are some interesting layers here, each stacked one on top of the other, only visible with careful examination.
It's an engaging track, one that begs further listening.
"InTROsacro" has a melancholy beauty to it, the sounds of wind and chimes and all manner of beautiful tones.
Slight melodies float through the track, lightly hinting at a theme or an idea, small phrases just on the tips of tongues.
Simply wonderful. "InTROpiano" features lovely piano work set against a drone backdrop.
It's a fascinating blend of natural and unnatural sounds, a very effective meeting of sonic worlds. I imagine that this is a track that may well have inspired or at least influenced Sanfilippo's later release "Piano Textures" as it has a very similar flavor to it.
"InTROvoices" begins with a simple drone, building in volume and strength, eventually joined by the sound of a rainstorm and other sounds
from nature. It's a beautiful example of spaces created through the use of sound and imagination, quite simple and quite effective.
"InTROvisions" blends in directly from the last track, a slight melody played through alien strings.
Slight variations on the melody play as the track increases, giving it a feeling of being a living organism, slowly undulating underneath
the sun's light. Very beautiful.
"InTROpassion" closes the disc, lovely piano and mournful strings overtop a quiet drone.
A delicate blend of sounds and feelings combining to create a full environment and space. Lovely work.
I've often thought that the mettle of an artist is proven in their ability to work equally comfortably in a variety of styles.
With "InTRO", Bruno Sanfilippo has shown that he's capable of working in a number of different forms, moving easily between styles and sounds, showing an ear and an ability in all of the areas he presents here.
Certainly Sanfilippo's reputation as an artist to watch is well deserved, and I would cite "InTRO" as a fine piece of evidence to support that claim.

"InTROworld" starts off with a bass-heavy sensual tribal beat, layers of electronic tones, and an assortment of ethnic instruments, such as what sounds like an erhu (an Asian string instrument) and what might be a duduk (a warm-sounding reed instrument popularized by the
artist Djivan Gasparyan). The music throbs with primal energy and raw naked sensuality. At about the midway point of the nine-minute
cut, it all starts to quiet down and morphs into a subdued subterranean/tribal hybrid with the drum beats eventually fading into the distance, replaced by the sound of falling rain.

"InTROmental" opens with decidedly Asian influences as bells and gongs are struck echoing and reverberating with a warm melodicism. Synthesizers playing a circular texture emerge from the background along with the familiar buzzing of a didgeridoo, but subdued enough
so that non-fans of the Australian instrument can still enjoy this. A two-note refrain with a back-forth cadence to it anchors the track
while ebbing and flowing synths and swirling keyboards fill the air with a heady dose of mysticism.

"InTROsacro" (co-composed by the ambient artist Alio Die) moves the album into a more conventional ambient soundscape of layers of electronic tonalities and reverberating effects. The mood straddles the boundary between neutral and brooding, but never crosses over into foreboding. At ten minutes, it is the longest track on the CD (although only one selection here is under six and half minutes long).
Assorted bell tones, slightly abstract noises, some sampled ethnic chanting (faint and brief), twinkling synths and what sounds like chorals
are added in later in the piece.

"InTROpiano" is a sparse, minimal, evocative and touching piano piece, with the instrument deeply echoed.
Background electronic textures, not unlike the sound of gently rushing wind, and the sound of crickets flesh out the song.

"InTROvoices" has a dreamlike quality with soft synth strings, delicate bird song, and an angelic choir wordlessly singing a gentle and serene lullaby (with one brief moment of power and crescendo).

"InTROvisions" features a warm flowing melody played on synthesizers, decidedly electronic but also with a warm organic quality.
"InTROpassion" concludes the CD with a blending of piano with the duduk-like sound and an assortment of background electronic effects and tones. As the song progresses, female chorals are added to dramatic effect, as well as shimmering bell tones.

InTRO's original music and mixture of styles defies easy categorization. I hope the words above give you at least a glimmer of Sanfilippo's brilliant accomplishment. I also hope that open-minded ambient and new age music fans alike will give this album the recognition it deserves
and not be dissuaded by its variety of moods or musical motifs. If you dedicate an hour of your time to immersing yourself in this CD,
I think you will be as enthralled with it as I was. Highly recommended.

Ya desde el étnico arranque “alla Passion” de Peter Gabriel, en la hermosa “Introworld” donde están latentes las reminiscencias moras de España en la música de Bruno, para dar paso sutilmente a “Intromental”, casi un viaje interior a la mente, con secuencias iterativas que resuenan modelando un eje por donde se desarrolla la música, a su alrededor.

El viaje continúa con “Introsacro” una pieza escrita por Bruno y Stefano Musso de línea oscura, reflexiva, con espacios calmos casi en un
mismo loop (leit motiv que se repite) a lo largo del tema.

Luego llega otro pico del álbum, la fantástica suite “Intropiano” adonde las bellas líneas melódicas del piano se diluyen en ecos lejanos,
volcando sensaciones melancólicas de grave belleza, que desemboca naturalmente en “Introvoices” en donde el piano es reemplazado por “voces de teclados” que interactúan con diversos ambientes apuntando a los sentidos.

“Introvisions” es otra lograda suite, con “llamadas musicales” como pinceladas que se superponen en un lienzo, finalizando la obra con otro pico, el logrado “Intropassion” otra hermosa línea melódica sumamente delicada interpretaba básicamente en piano, con eclosiones expresivas en medio de pasajes de gran calma, cerrando un trabajo que es una misma línea, como un viaje musical, un concepto, fascinante y bello.
Este trabajo se gestó en Barcelona, España en 2006, con Bruno Sanfilippo interpretando piano, sintetizadores, samplers, varios instrumentos acústicos, ambientes y computadora.

Dice Bruno desde el interior del CD “El artista sueña y construye sueños, transforma lo imaginario en libre experiencia.
Trabaja allí, en el Intro del azul misterio, dejando volar su alma.
Sin lugar a dudas el alma de Bruno Sanfilippo ha volado en gran manera para brindarnos este calmo y hermoso disco, titulado “InTRO”.

Sanfilippo claims the like of Wendy Carlos, Vangelis and Mike Oldfield as influences.
The music of Intro, though, is more reflective and ambient than these influences would suggest.

Sanfilippo describes the tracks on InTRO as soundscapes. Sanfilippo masterfully combines synthesizers, keyboard, environmental sounds and
a variety of acoustic instruments to create music that brings to mind the environmental soundscapes of Steve Roach and the dark
ambient music of Brian Eno.

The CD collects seven tracks. Each track's name starts with InTRO and then is completed by a word or phrase that seems to relate to the track. InTROworld, for example, has a world music feel to it, layering pulsing synths with percussion and exotic string melodies. InTROpiano,
on the other hand, is solo processed piano, with synth and electronic effects accompaniment.

From the start, InTRO sets a relaxing, reflective mood. While each track on the CD has a very unique feel to it, Sanfilippo maintains a
consistent mood, which means the CD makes an ideal sountrack for relaxing and thinking.

Eno has suggested that ambient music must be listenable as well as ignorable, supporting various levels of attention, and the tracks on InTRO are excellent examples of this idea. While the music on InTRO is often beautiful, it doesn't have the glossy surface charm of some new age music, but a deeper, mysterious attraction.

Highlights of the CD include InTROpiano, which recalls Vangelis Memories of Green and the Brian Eno/Harold Budd classic, The Pearl; and InTROvoices, which uses wordless voice sounds to create a choral and even orchestral texture.

Bruno Sanfilippo's InTRO is one of the finest ambient releases we've heard this year. It's not widely distributed, unfortunately,
but is available via the ad21music.com, where streaming previews are also available.

How much reason has he. This cd supposes exactly that, the composer´s dreams became reality, his ideas represented in an accessible
support for everyone who wants to appear to them, an opportunity that we don´t let pass.

I have to admit an special admiration for this composer.
His jobs, since the first time I have the opportunity of listening them, never let me indifferent, besides an anecdote about one of his track
that allways would be in my memory.
His music, has the virtue of knowing how to transport us, how to make fly our imagination to the imaginary places the composer indicates.

What is InTRO ? It´s go deeply into his ideas, in the origin of his music, but in the deep, no more than a guide that transport deeply into ourselves.

This job is a walk through seven " Introductions" like the seven sins and is that became a sin not enjoy this job. We begin with the
InTROduction in the world, in the depth of our planet, a track that transport us to those far places that we only can visit with our imagination.

We go on with an InTROduction in our mind to descover the origin of ouerselves. InTROduction in the sacred comes next, the man needs the divine and sacred protection since his origin, Bruno brings us nearer it with his music. Then we go into something more earthly,
the InTROduction in the piano, that instrument with so beautiful sounds that make our feelings fly.
The voice, what is the voice ? We can introduce ourselves in the voice trough the sound, because the voice is the sound we emit to
unserstand each to others but, Is there any language more universal than the music ? InTRovisions, the dreams, the false reality,
the hope, all is posible where the unreal becomes real. Finally the InTROduction in the passion, what does the human move,
that attribute that make us reach the impossible.

There are composers that create their own music, but besides this Bruno Sanfilippo introduces us in it with this cd full of dreams and hopes,
a job to taste little by little, slowly while we submerge in all the ideas that brings note by note, track by track.
There are few composers able to transport us to other places with their music, to other dimensions,
to show us imaginary views became reality, Bruno Sanfilippo is one of them.