Electro-acoustic artist Renato Fiorito draws deeply from his environment, shaping his work through field recordings gathered across Southern Italy. Born in Naples, Fiorito has long used geography as both material and muse – a geolocated approach most evident in LUSTRA, his previous major project dedicated to his hometown. His new full-length LP, Bastimento, expands this practice into a deeper, site-specific form.
Conceived as a performance in three acts, Bastimento was developed for the coastline surrounding Mount Bulgheria in the Parco Nazionale del Cilento e Vallo di Diano. Each act unfolded in a different location, drawing from distinct architectural and natural features of the landscape. These three actions became the foundation for the album’s triptych structure, each movement shaped by – and in dialogue with – its physical surroundings.
Translated from Italian as “Ship,” Bastimento seeks to embody the swelling and crashing of the Mediterranean Sea. Fiorito positions his microphones within the narrow inlets characteristic of Cilento’s rugged coastline, funnelling the ocean’s energy into naturally resonant chambers. The result is a sonic environment stripped of external interference, enveloping the listener in a sense of geographic and emotional isolation.
This theme of isolation runs throughout Fiorito’s wider work, often recorded from remote outcrops and desolate coastal points across Italy. Track three, “Sei Di Nuovo Qui,” captures this most vividly: a cavernous emptiness shaped by waves that sound washed-out and distant, as though recorded from a sheltered cove surrounded by cliffs. Whether artificial reverberation is present or the acoustics are entirely natural, the effect is hypnotic – a drifting state broken only when the ear begins to notice the ambient textures simmering beneath the tide.
Across the album, Fiorito develops three distinct soundworlds, each colder and more austere than the last. These transitions unfold primarily through shifting frequencies and tonal emphasis, culminating in a final phase that merges back into the sea sounds that opened the work. It is as if the waves themselves excite the harmonic material, creating a shimmering resonance reminiscent of an icy lake or the echoing interior of a crevasse. As the vibrations gradually fade and the water recedes, Bastimento ends as a meditation on nature’s vastness – a solitary listening experience shaped by landscape, isolation, and the elemental dialogue between sound and place.
“Bastimento” is scheduled for release 5th December via Superpang. Order a copy from Boomkat.
TRACKLIST
1. A Muovere
2. Gemelli – Molare
3. Sei Di Nuovo Qui
4. Serranuda (Stereo)