Audiopile Review: Panoram’s Great Times is the 10th entry in the always impressive Balmat catalog, a label who have yet to miss on their way to becoming one of the premier electronic outlets of this young decade. Panoram, the project of Italy’s Raffaele Martirani, already has an impressive back catalog, beginning his arc with an LP of smeary house and wobbly downtempo on the seemingly defunct Firecracker, eventually dishing albums for Running Back. Oh, and he also moonlights in downer-indie outfit Amen Dunes. Easily the brightest and most sun-soaked album on Balmat, Panoram reflects on the finer things here with tracks that smear impressively across genre, maintaining a balmy air throughout its chameleon-like slither. Flirting with the air-brushed synth tones of Japanese environmental music, Panoram dips into kaleidoscopic IDM, balearic-folk and cascading minimalism, constructing the album with an idiosyncratic bent that defies any predictability. Honestly, an absolute highlight on the already outstanding label.

Panoram makes soundtracks for daydreams gone sideways. Picture the scene: an afternoon nap with the television on, quietly, in the corner; snatches of conversation drift in through the open window. Wandering, half-formed thoughts take unexpected detours; before you know it, there’s a movie playing out against closed lids, the colors bright, the characters unfamiliar. Accidental rhythms, incidental melodies, imitations of life, messages in code.

Across 17 fragmentary, sketch-like tracks, Panoram carves a labyrinthine path in which nothing is what it seems: a fantasy world of breathy vox pads, faux guitar, detuned synths, bursts of flute and orchestral percussion, and even the occasional cheeky cartoon sample. It’s chillout music with a chilly edge, ambient with a darkly ironic undertone. (The briefest glance at your news outlet of choice should be enough to confirm that the title—Great Times—ought to be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism.)

Panoram has been making music under his principal alias for more than a decade now, releasing albums on labels like Firecracker, Running Back, and his own Wandering Eye. (He has also performed and recorded with Amen Dunes, and has co-production credits on Amen Dunes’ forthcoming Sub Pop album Death Jokes.) Panoram’s output has ranged widely, taking in abstract pop, classical composition, twisted takes on library music, and cyborg funk. One record of “bio-acoustic transmissions” came with a cannabis leaf pressed in clear wax; his 2021 album Pianosequenza Vol. 1 gathers his experiments on the Yamaha Disklavier. But Great Times offers the truest picture yet of a project that has never been easy to pin down.

Loath to overshare details about his personal life, Panoram instead lets the music do the talking, using his cryptic tracks to express the slipperiest sorts of ideas—the thoughts that take root where anxiety, distraction, and the most fleeting traces of grace commingle. Panoram’s approach flies in the face of contemporary ambient orthodoxy, with its emphasis on immersion and uplift. Great Times expresses something thornier, more difficult to translate, yet also more tantalizing to contend with. Its 17 tracks offer a chance to get lost—and an invitation to remain in the maze as long as you like.