Benocchi, Budd and Guthrie isn’t so much a trio as it’s a partnership: Harold Budd taps out sparse, ethereal notes from his classical piano, Robin Guthrie surrounds it with supplemental instrumentation (mainly guitar and keyboards) and sound architect Eraldo Bernocchi plays electric piano and along with Guthrie applies the finishing coast of varnish with soothin washes of synthesized sound. If all this sounds much like a Budd/Eno collaboration, then you’re hot on the trail of what Winter Garden is like. The dreamy progressions are so non-disruptive that the closest it comes to grooving are the faint pulses of a bass line in “Entangled” and “Stay With Me” and actual percussion on the last two minutes of the latter track. But few surprises is a strength when the idea is to chill. You can achieve a sufficiently sedated bliss soaking up the icy but inviting soundscapes of Winter Garden.
Winter Garden releases March 13 on the label Bernocchi co-founded, Rare Noise Records.
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