Pier Piras is a bassist, composer, and producer from Sardinia who has made the acoustic bass guitar his main voice. Rather than treating it purely as a rhythm instrument, he uses fingerstyle and percussive techniques to make it carry melody, harmony, rhythm, and percussion all at once, so a single bass can sound like a small ensemble. His previous album, Eolo, was a spare, inward-looking solo record, and he releases his music through Roble Records.
He has also taken his new music to the Friuli Venezia Giulia region for the first time, with concerts in Gorizia, Cividale del Friuli, and Trieste.
Nautilus
Where Eolo stripped everything back, Nautilus, his third studio album, throws the doors open. The acoustic bass is still at the centre of all nine tracks, but now it is surrounded by stringed instruments from different traditions, earthy percussion, voice, and atmospheric sound design. The title explains the approach. A nautilus shell grows in a spiral, adding chamber after chamber as it expands outward, a shape often tied to the golden ratio, and Piras uses that image as the guiding idea for a personal journey built around movement, change, and growth.
The record refuses to settle into one genre. It drifts between Mediterranean music, world fusion, acoustic instrumentals, and wide, filmic soundscapes. Some pieces are hushed and meditative, while others lean into stronger rhythms, with touches that recall flamenco, tango, and the folk traditions of the Mediterranean.
He has brought some notable company along for the ride. Francesco “Fry” Moneti, known for his work with Italian folk-rock favourites Modena City Ramblers, joins the project, as do organetto player Pierpaolo Vacca and singer Mila Trani, and none of them feel like they are simply dropping by. Each one is woven right into the fabric of the music.
“Medusa” was the first taste of the album, and it works as a bridge between the two records, keeping some of Eolo‘s quiet, inward feel while opening out into a richer, broader palette with plenty of drive. “Sol in Sol” is the sunniest moment, with Vacca’s organetto, the small button accordion found throughout Italian folk music, trading lines with the bass over a lively, bouncing rhythm. Fittingly, the song takes the sun as its symbol for life, connection, and new beginnings.
“Ardere” brings plenty of energy too, while “Duna Cremisi” pulls several cultural threads together into one piece. “Bae Bae” slows things down for one of the album’s most reflective moments. Across the record, Piras keeps shifting between tight structure and open space, busy rhythms and near silence, and acoustic playing and textured soundscapes, which keeps the listener leaning in from one track to the next.
Final Thoughts
What stands out most about Nautilus is that the bass never gets lost, even with so many voices around it. For an instrument most people barely notice in a band, it is remarkable how much story Piras can tell with it, and the way he moves from quiet, meditative pieces to flamenco and tango-tinged rhythms keeps the album full of surprises. The guest players add colour without ever pulling focus, and the spiral idea gives the whole record a real sense of shape. It is a rich, generous album and proof that the bass can lead from the front.
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