Mauro Montobbio (ITA) - Symphonic Prog?

I'm suggesting this artist initially for Symphonic Prog because that's the dominant style of music that I'm hearing in his debut solo album, based on my own interpretation of the sub genre - but there are other styles of music evident in this album from time to time as well, so Eclectic Prog might also work.

There are a lot of seventies influences in this music to my ears - I hear references to mid-seventies Camel, the early Steve Hackett solo albums, a touch of Renaissance and even Mike Oldfield on some of the tracks. It's a superb album indeed, and surely has to be included on the site somewhere.

So, here we go - just a short biography this time, since this guy is already well represented on PA via other bands that he's been involved with:

Mauro Montobbio is a multi-instrumentalist originating from Camogli, near Genoa, Italy who plays a variety of different types of guitar, as well as keyboards and synthesizers.

He started playing guitar at age 14, and four years later in 1980 he founded the progressive rock band 'Narrow Pass' with his brother (a vocalist) Guido Montobbio. The band broke up a couple of years later though without releasing an album, and in 1992 Mauro played live for a short while with the Italian progressive rock band 'Eris Pluvia'. In 2006 he reformed 'Narrow Pass', and the band released their debut album 'A Room Of Fairy Queen's' that same year. Two further albums followed in 2009 and 2014.

In 2012 Mauro composed and performed on the track 'In and Around the Colosseum' for the debut album of Vincenzo Ricca's new venture 'The Rome Pro(g)ject', an album which was released in December of that year. With Narrow Pass currently seeming to be on hiatus again, Mauro has recently involved himself in a variety of other projects, and has released his first solo album 'Scattered Memories' in August 2024 - an album which involved contributions from a number of well known guest musicians and vocalists.

Mixed by Bruno Costa and mastered by Nicola Sannino at Tabasco Studio, Sori, Italy except tracks 5 & 9, which were mastered by Nick Magnus at Magick Nuns Studio, England

Front and back cover drawings by Stefania Crivello

Artwork by Carlo Cibrario Sent

CD Self-released (August 2024, Italy)

Digital album 7359733 Records DK (5th August 2024)

https://narrowpass.wixsite.com/narrowpass/mauro-montobbio.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088926248448.

https://mauromontobbio.bandcamp.com/album/scattered-memories.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mGi9NggFRhapdxjykuNIWcRE_ITh7GhT4.

https://open.spotify.com/album/42z9OLqXfjMxP6ngUTcpbq.

https://awesomeprog.com/artists/24965.