Dusty features the Gábor Ladányi Trio. They toured Hungary for the first time in May 2023. At the beginning of April, I contacted Robert Hunka, who suggested recording a new album at his studio.

Honestly, I hadn’t planned on making a new album since we had just released our first one a few months prior. I didn’t have enough new songs, but I was thrilled about the opportunity, and the prospect of a new album inspired me.

The first piece that I wrote for this album is called ‘Destiny.’ A year earlier, while giving a masterclass in Cremona, I met someone who changed my life. The song is dedicated to her. I had been renovating my grandparents’ house in a small village, where I spent my first spring. Most of the time, I sat in my garden, practicing, something I had been doing since I was a kid. Nature has always inspired me, so it was the perfect place to recharge and compose new music. There was a bird’s nest at the corner of my house, and when five little birds flew out for the first time, I started playing a melody that became the song called ‘Birds at the Corner.’

Federico and Umberto arrived in Hungary, and we started our tour, playing the music from our first album. The new compositions were ready; we just had to make them sound good. During our free time, we worked on the new music to prepare for the recording. One afternoon, we rehearsed in Budapest at ‘Dürer Studio.’ During a break, we walked around the place, and Federico took a picture. He said, ‘Look, man, I think it’s a nice album cover,’ so the picture became the cover.

Describing the music we play is hard; I’m influenced by jazz, blues, rock, gypsy jazz, Balkan music, etc. But when we started to play the compositions of this album, we all felt that it’s somehow ‘dusty’. ‘Lighter’ is an old composition by Federico and me. We used to be flatmates in Brussels when we were studying at the Koninklijk Conservatorium. Both of us felt that this song would fit well on this album. The last song of the album was composed by Federico, who dedicated it to our drummer, Umberto. The song is called ‘Umbe Jam.