Argentinian composer Federico Durand marks his debut release for 12K with A través del espejo. A glistening ambient daydream spun through crackling casette recorders, various small instruments, toys, bells and the fuzzy echoes turned air recordings that whirred softly in the background as he carefully crafted each track.
The ten track titles are talk enough; Recuerdos en Super 8 (Memories on Super 8), Linternas junto a la laguna (Lanterns beside the lake) or Hora de dormir (Time to sleep), each a small sunlit signpost into Durand’s oh-so-sparse instrumental world.
Babies coo-ing and children singing are the sole voices, making just one appearance on Hora de dormir. But they’re half-heard, just audible beneath the airy crackle and singular melody line. A dream or a memory, but a comforting one. Laced in nostalgia but defiantly anti-twee thanks to the album’s seriously slowwwwww pace: you’re too busy floating (or falling) to worry about anything.
Experimental and soft, lullaby material for all ages, A través del espejo is a glorious demonstration of the discipline and patience Durand exercises inside his toy-box cornucopia of odd machines and found sounds; a dreamworld in itself.
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Thank you very much When I heard You & Kim for this review! F.