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30-year old keyboardist Marco Benevento rose to fame a few years ago as half of the instrumental rock outfit Benevento/Russo Duo. On Invisible Baby, his studio debut as a solo artist, Benevento retains the instrumental approach but elevates to the trio format, recording with bassist Reed Mathis (Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey) and switching off between drummers Andrew Barr (The Slip) and session stud Matt Chamberlain (Tori Amos). Focusing on his acoustic piano, Benevento’s time studying under Brad Mehldau is evident in the beautiful sense of melody and structure that permeate the album. While there is a clear jazz vibe, Benevento doesn’t stop there as he incorporates spacious rock, Kid A-style glitch, a banjo, lots of distorted bass, Mellotron, pump organ and his cache of tweaked-out circuit bent toys. The result is a playful album, instrumental music for hipsters—a post-rock/post-jazz/post-jam effort that could have only been created in the latter half of this decade.

Standout Tracks: “Bus Ride,” “Ruby” AARON KAYCE