Una hermosa reseña en Rockdelux, España

Federico Durand

"El libro de los árboles mágicos" 

Home Normal

Every Hidden Color

"Luz"
Streamline-Drag City-¡Pop Stock!

Rockdelux #310, octubre de 2012

PAISAJE SONORO Láminas de botánica, ediciones antiguas de cuentos infantiles, cajitas de música de latón, la poesía de John Keats o los tratados de hierbas de Hildegard von Bingen. Esa es la clase de cosas que hacen feliz a Federico Durand, y lo cierto es que el argentino no solo es un afanado coleccionista de objetos: también lo es de sonidos. Los que llenan "El libro de los árboles mágicos", urdido en melodías digitales que brillan se desvanecen como luciérnagas, dibujan una senda entre eucaliptos, hojas de romero y ríos. Si "El éxtasis de las flores pequeñas" (2011) evocaba los viajes y recuerdos de Durand junto a sus abuelos, estas siete piezas son un homenaje a La Serranita, el pueblo donde su madre tiene una cabaña. El álbum, que incluye colaboraciones con Chihei Hatakeyama, Ian Hawgood -un tema ya aparecido en "Slow films in low light"- y Fuqugi, se rinden a la belleza de la naturaleza y la usa como una puerta hacia fantasías desveladas como pequeños secretos, relatadas a través de la cualidad narrativa del sonido.

Después de constantes retrasos por parte de Arbor, finalmente ha sido Streamline -el subsello de Drag City regentado por Christoph Heemann- la etiqueta encargada de la edición en vinilo de "Luz", la primera entrega del proyecto que Federico Durand comparte con Nicholas Szczepanik. Son dos piezas que rozan los veinte minutos cada una, grabadas en dos días. El sentido nato de la melodía de Federico se funde con la habilidad de Szczepanik para fabricar inmensas masas ambientales, dando forma a un sonido nublado como el vapor del té que no solo respeta el encanto preciosista y delicado del trabajo de Durand sino que lo eleva, dotándolo de un poder de ensoñación verdaderamente hermoso.

Juan Monge

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Muchas gracias Juan! Abrazo desde el Sur!

In a beautiful catalogue

My album "El libro de los árboles mágicos" is featured in this beautiful catalogue by Pastel Records, Japan.

Pastel Records (Japan)

You can visit this amazing Japanese store HERE.

A beautiful review by Fluid Radio

FEDERICO DURAND – EL LIBRO DE LOS ÁRBOLES MÁGICOS
Posted On: June 11, 2012

A sense of place. And a sense of time, passing. These are the aims of much of the music we might describe as operating on experimental frequencies. Whether conjured through field recordings, the description of resonating spaces – both real and imaginary, both acoustic and electronic, or the associations of particular instruments, these recordings aim for a world beyond simply ‘the studio’ and ‘the stage’.

With this expanded world at their fingertips, composers look beyond the everyday to the imagined, the idealized and the nostalgic. Thinking beyond such simplified areas as the ‘soundtrack to an imaginary film’, works emerge that are drawn from memory and dreams as much as documentary invocations of place.

El libro de los árboles mágicos is composer Federico Durand’s homage to the village in rural Argentina where his mother lives – drawn from “the voice of that reality and also its echo, which is born out of dream and fantasy.” There are field recordings aplenty here, the chirruping of birds, the crunch of boots on gravel, or maybe snow, the rush of a summer downpour, but from the overlapping chords of Crisantemo onwards, this is no simple snapshot of a place at one moment in time.

Instead, there is a gentle progression from the day to day idyll of the valleys to the heights and solitude of the mountains – suggested by the way the balance of the album shifts from more environmental sounds to more in depth, electronic processes – a move from a photo album to a dream perhaps?

As such, the album presents itself as a journey – and yes, a gentle sense of time passing – summer to late autumn. The extended washes of sound, hints of delayed piano, and expertly placed environment sounds combine to a serene, almost stately whole. Highlights? The way the undulating electronics and backwards attacks of La edad dels bosque overlap with the high-summer sounds of crickets. The almost fanfare like quality of the final track, with its touches of looped zither or harp like tones.– Recommended!

John Boursnell for Fluid Radio.

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Thank you very much John Bournell and Fluid Radio! 

F.

El libro de los árboles mágicos

Federico Durand : El libro de los árboles mágicos
Label : Home Normal (Japan)
Cat.No : homen036

Release date : June 15th, 2012 (WORLDWIDE)

Edition : 500

• Pre-order @ Home Normal Store HERE

Release description: There is a little mountain village in Córdoba, Argentina, called La Serranita. There lives my mother. Her house is a simple, rural cabin placed on a hill. Everything in it matches perfectly with the spirit of the place. A house to live in during heavy winter storms. Behind the house there is a path which leads to Anisacate river. Here and there you can see bushes, eucalyptus and espinillos which either sleep or blossom in the shelter of the seasons. Sometimes, at dusk, an owl appears while invisible insects whisper among the leaves. And in the vicinity of the mountain path there grow plants of rosemary, mint and other herbs you can make infusions with. ‘El libro de los árboles mágicos’ is dedicated to that place, to the crystalline community of its people, to the animals and things. In fact, this album is more like a storybook. Every musical piece takes the voice of that reality and also its echo, which is born out of dream and fantasy. (Federico Durand)

All music by Federico Durand, except piece 1 which is a collaboration with Chihei Hatakeyama, piece 4 with Fuqugi and piece 5 with Ian Hawgood, originally released on ‘Slow Films in Low Light’ (Home Normal 013).

Mastered by Ian Hawgood.

Photography by Eirik Holmøyvik.

Tracklist:
01 Crisantemo
02 Atardecer
03 La edad del bosque
04 La niebla cambia de color
05 El pequeño zorro colorado 
06 El libro de los árboles mágicos
07 Cinco luciérnagas

Thank you very much, Federico.