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Aqua Bassino

When you think of the blues - of the daily suffering that transcends the work of the artist ? the first images that come to mind are often linked to the US, to Detroit and Louisiana.

In 1996, before AQUA BASSINO joined FCOM, I went to Edinburgh to spend a few days with Jason. Within a few hours I understood where the melancholy running through his own music had originated.

The grey skies, the poverty, the heavy industry left to rot during the Thatcher years, the empty shop windows, the faded curtains? And then there was Jason, who in between drinking pints, spoke about his life : about his father who had just disappeared, about his grandmother to whom he had dedicated « Nana?s Waltz», of the tendinitis that had developed in his left hand as a result of days and nights passed at the keyboard. All that, however, was punctuated by smiles, cool vibes and the very personal vocabulary that Jason has created.

His first three EPs and then his first album « Beats n? bobs » in 2002, allowed AQUA BASSINO to start playing out live as well as doing several DJ sets. Both pulled him out of a virtual state of homelessness in which he had been sleeping in the garages of friend?s houses or in recording studios he was being lent.

Blues was in his music as much as in his daily life. Never far away. A burst water pipe, a collapsed ceiling and his collection of vinyl disappears. No more DJ dates. Then the downward spiral started again : the arrival of an unexpected tax bill, a girlfriend who leaves. The start of a long journey across a wasteland littered with court appearances and shitty jobs taken up to pay off debts : gravedigger, postman. At the same time, the hassle of trying to get back computers and keyboards impounded against the debts.

This is the kind of story we?ve never written before but which seems integral to explaining the soul and the emotion in AQUA BASSINO?s music. The 'deep' aspect, which is Jason?s hallmark, is omnipresent on this new album which has taken two years to record in all its complexity.

Despite a daily grind worthy of the deepest Blues, AQUA BASSINO has delivered an album full of hope, of love and sunshine. From « Into the sun » through to « Jay?s vibes », the 10 tracks here make up his most intimate recordings yet.

A new sense of hope emerges.

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Aqua Bassino