The Verona-based electroacoustic Passepartout Duo was formed by Italian pianist Nicoletta Favari and American-Italian percussionist Christopher Salvito.  The duo kept developing and evolving its sonic ecosystem of handmade musical instruments, which have ranged from analog electronic circuits and conventional percussion to room-size textile installations and found objects.

For nearly a decade, Passepartout Duo has lived in motion. Its site-specific musical universe has been shaped by constant shifting from place to place. Pieces from Places collects twelve pieces from twelve distinct locations, each one with its own inventive sonic ideas and unique setups, recorded between 2018 and 2024, and encapsulating the duo’s experiences of wandering. Favari plays homemade synthesizers, and Salvito plays DIY percussion instruments.

Pieces from Places is a friendly, dream-like, cinematic sonic journal for the occasional tourist, featuring a vintage-atmospheric, analog synth sound. It blends Passepartout Duo’s ideas, experience, and memories but refuses to settle into a single interpretation or a direct reflection of local musical traditions. You can listen to the duo’s sonic impressions from the humid quiet of Taipei’s artist village to the urban rhythms of Belgrade or Tbilisi; the still coast of Ayvalik to the labyrinthine acoustics of Fes; Kolkata’s vibrant density or the winter timelessness of Trondheim.

The album’s cover artwork is a manipulated image of the Rostocker Pfeilstorch, a stork discovered in Germany that had migrated from central Africa with an arrow in its neck. It provided early proof for bird migration. The album is released in a limited edition 7’’, 33 1/3 rpm flexi disc with two additional bonus tracks, a download option, and on streaming services.

Eyal Hareuveni

Nicoletta Favari (synthesizers), Christopher Salvito (percussion)