aaamusic | On 17, Jun 2011

Tuma is an Italian songwriter, singer and instrumentalist who creates vignettes, paintings, textures and stories in music, unlike anything else you’ll hear in 2011. With third album In The Morning We’ll Meet he unearths a yearning for times gone by and fantastical flight.

In 2002 the young Italian had a Damascene moment after hearing Stereolab. Through their soft focus and minimalist approach pop took on a new meaning for Tuma. Immersing himself in the forlorn folk of Nick Drake and Tim Buckley, the evanescent vocals of The Free Design, the bossa-inflected melodies of Astrud Gilberto, Italian film scores and Broadway Musicals he was stirred to compose songs of his own. First album Uncolored (Swing’n’Pop Around Rose) was released on a small Italian indie in 2003, with backing from collective Os Tumantes (no points for getting the Os Mutantesreference). In 2008 a deal was signed with respected Spanish label Elefant who released the highly praised follow up My Vocalese Funfair, which allmusic.com called “just magic” – rewarding it 4.5/5 stars.

“In the Morning We’ll Meet is an album of folk-jazz sung in English, but watered with typically Italian melodies,” Tuma says of his latest outing. “I tried with this album to describe the concept of ‘innocence’: childhood memories, the dream, the start and finish of an important love story, the sensation of hearing Pet Sounds, sitting in a room on December the 24th with only the Christmas tree lights on, the whites and blacks of the splendid Vittorio De Sica movies… splendour and hope.”

Farmore thoughtful than his two previous efforts; the sunshine ray of hope element is now dappled and autumnal, with a nostalgia that is so common in the jazz of Chet Baker or the compositions of Ravel. “It’s less pop than its predecessor and there aren’t any Brazilian influences either. As the album progresses the songs become more melancholic and complicated,” says Tuma of the album’s sense of mood.

To achieve the artist’s vision an incredible list of collaborators were involved, including Michael Andrews (who was responsible for the brilliant scores to Donnie Darko and Me, You And Everyone We Know), Lori Cullen (the Canadian jazz-folk singer who has released three splendid albums, the last of which was produced by Chris Dedrick – the mentor of the legendary THE FREE DESIGN), and Susan Karolina Wallumrød (who hassung with greats like Bonnie “Prince” Billy and issued three albums with her own group SUSANNA AND THE MAGICAL ORCHESTRA).

From the cinematic heaven of ‘Imaginary Soundtrack For Yuri Norstein’ (dedicated to the rustic Russian animator) to the soft-pop Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends-like ‘New Fabled Stories’, the heart wrenching harmonica led ‘Noel 1981’ to the fragile jazz of ‘Apples RvIIII’ and the trippy Syd Barret sounding ‘Eyes Full Of Bitterness’ In The Morning We’ll Meet features a stunning array of dreamy music, destined to steal your heart.