Ameto - A beautiful Japanese store

「小さな花のエクスタシー」と題された本作は、幼少の頃の思い出…祖父母と一緒に歩いた森への道や、庭で過ごした時間を思い描いて作られたもの。今はもう無い祖父母の家の記憶として、ブエノスアイレスの庭で集めた雨や鳥の鳴き声などを散りばめています。ギターやピアノ、電子音などで構築されたデリケートな音像が、心の凝りをほぐしてくれそうです。アルゼンチンのサウンド・クリエイター、フェデリコ・デュランドの『La siesta del cipres』に続くセカンド・アルバム。

Ameto is a beautiful place in Japan.

Electroacoustic Tales - "El éxtasis de las flores pequeñas" album of the month

With ‘El éxtasis de las flores pequeñas’, Own Records added another beautiful album to their catalogue. This album is mainly based on guitar, piano and field recordings and is the latest work by the Buenos Aires-based musician Federico Durand. So this album directly follows the beautiful ‘La siesta del ciprés’ on Japanese Spekk label. It comes in a plain white sleeve with the beautiful photograph by Christy Romanick. Mastering engineer of this album was Taylor Deupree.

The introduction of the album ‘El pequeño huésped sigue dormido’ is a wonderful field recording of a rainy day accompanying some (slightly detuned) piano improvisation. This creates a truly peaceful atmosphere that will lead the listener through the complete album. ‘Los niños escriben poemas en tiras de papel rojo’ is maybe one of the finest pieces of the album. You can hear birds, children playing outside – and all this is accompanied by a discrete guitar arrangement, calm and beautiful. ‘Elin’ immediately reminds me of the ‘Film by Federico Durand’ that was the introduction of Ian Hawgood’s ‘Slow Films in Low Lights’ on Home Normal last year. And this contribution by Federico Durand was one of the main reasons why this release was one of the albums of the year 2010 by the way. But let’s get back to ‘El éxtasis de las flores pequeñas’. The title track of the album stands out not just because it is the title track and hence has a special meaning from the artists point of view – it also is a truly beautiful guitar arrangement, an intimate piece of work. With the following ‘Atardecer en las montañas’ Durand delivers a completely processed piece, decent and delicate guitar drones are creating a warm and rich surrounding for some slight distortion and overtones. A perfect musical image of the evening hours in the mountains, surrounded by nature and the late sunbeams when the sun slowly hides behind the ridge. The final piece ‘Kim’ returns to the warmth of this very peaceful ‘Los niños escriben poemas en tiras de papel rojo’. If you think that I’m sort of slobbering over this album it could be true definitely. But honestly: it’s somewhat seriously equitable regarding this wonderful piece of work.

So I don’t want to finish this review without pointing out that ‘El éxtasis de las flores pequeñas’ was album of the month in March 2011 on this site. And you might think that I’m sort of crazy to constitute this at that early point of the year, but I’m kind of sure that this album will appear in the year’s end list of mine, too. Highly recommended!

[4,8 / 5]

Electroacoustic Tales

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Thank you very much Christoph Berg for the heartfelt review...

F.

ARTROCK NO 1 - CD Record Store, Kyoto - Japan

spekkからの1stアルバム「la siesta del cipres」(2010年)が各方面から絶賛された大注目のアルゼンチンのサウンド・アーティストfederico durand。2nd.アルバムがルクセンブルグのOwn Recordsよりリリース。「el extasis de las flores pequenas（小さな花のエクスタシー）」と題された本作は、Durandが子供の頃に彼が祖父母と一緒に歩いた南アルゼンチンの森への道や、庭で過ごした時間など、彼の子供時代の記憶からインスパイアされて制作されました。ギターやピアノを基調とした柔らかなタッチの美しいメロディーに、今はもう無い祖父母の家の記憶として、ブエノスアイレスの庭で集めたフィールドレコーディングの様々なサウンドを繊細にブレンド。どこまでもデリケートで心地の良い音のテクスチャーと、郷愁感と優しい気持ちが溢れてくるサウンドが、凝り固まった心をそっと癒してくれそうです。　(Own Records/ CD)

Review by Dwars, Radio6, Netherlands

Federico Durand is een in Buenos Aires in Argentinië woonachtige muzikant die twee albums maakte, in 2010 werd zijn debuut ‘La Siesta Del Ciprés’ door het Japanse label Spekk uitgebracht en zijn tweede cd ‘El Extasis De Las Flores Pequeñas’ is nu verschenen bij het Luxemburgse Own Records. Toen Federico Durand bij zijn ouders thuis bij toeval verschillende oude foto’s uit jeugd terug vond, kwamen meteen vergeten momenten en vage herinneringen naar boven, o.a. uit de tijd dat hij als kind bij zijn grootouders logeerde die in de bossen in het Zuiden van Argentinië woonden. Op ‘El Extasis De Las Flores Pequeñas’, dat zoveel betekent als de extase van de kleine bloemen, probeerde Federico Durand deze jeugdherinneringen in klank en geluid te vatten. Met veel “field-recordings”, piano, verschillende akoestische snaarinstrumenten en het gebruik van een laptop, creëerde hij bitterzoete miniatuurtjes waarin melancholie en onschuld als mijmeringen weerklinken.

Review by Dwars.

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Heel erg bedankt, Dwars.

Mist & Poetry - From Art-Star

DURAND'S FLOWERS

Approximately two weeks ago, as I was looking through some boxes in my parents’ house on a rainy late afternoon, I stumbled across pictures of my parents when they were young and a couple more of my sister and me, in various poses, awful outfits (what was our mother thinking?) and diverse places; through the laughter for the absurdity of some moments captured on 35mm (us with matching hats, me running, age four or five, half-naked through a field of weeds holding a stray cat under my arm) I also let some tears escape, realising that childhood memories, or things we thought we’d forgotten and lost forever, are some of the most bittersweet we are to encounter in life.

Federico Durand‘s album El éxtasis de las flores pequeñas, out today on Own Records, is a little bit like that. Recorded in Argentina, mixing acoustic instruments, piano, and field recordings, it is a journey towards the memories of his childhood, a way to press pause and rewind.

By "Girl"

From Art-Star

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Thank you deeply "Girl" for this words. It means a lot to me,

F.