Thomas Bartlett - Shelter “Shelter†is a collection of eight disarmingly beautiful piano nocturnes from the composer and producer Thomas Bartlett (Sufjan Stevens, St. Vincent ) recorded over two days following lockdown in New York City. The album plays as a love letter to his partner, as well as a love letter to New York City itself - Bartlett’s home for the last 21 years. Traditionally inspired by the night, the nocturne offers an entry into what is understood in the heart rather than the head; it is a way of assimilating what can’t be put into words. The mood on Shelter, Bartlett's first solo album, is one of dusk turning to inky evening blue. Lullabies for the heart, its pieces are multi-toned – from Xanthina, which seems to unspool before your ears, suggesting Cole Porter dreaming Satie, to the Ravel-esque Multiflora, which has the feel of water, shimmering, gurgling and tumbling. There are exquisitely deft melodic turns, as well as darker trills and runs. You may hear distant echoes here of some of Bartlett’s big musical loves: Keith Jarrett and late-era Talk Talk. What is so striking, besides the beauty of the compositions, is Barlett’s tender way with tone – informed in no small part by his time studying with celebrated Italian classical pianist Maria Curcio in London, as a teen. “The thing she prized, and what I feel I really learned from her, was how to invest in every tone,†says Bartlett, “especially the quiet ones.â€
