I’m onto the second review on Fluid Sonic Fluctuations of 2019 already and I’m also introducing a new easier way of finding reviews of specific fields of music or labels on my blog by labelling all reviews with a specific “series†This review falls under the Fluid Label Focus series, which is focused on an independent / underground music label that I find particularly interesting and over the months features a selection of releases from its discography both new and old. Aiming to showcase record labels also as archives of sonic art and inviting listeners to rediscover old releases as well. Today however I’m focusing the series (which is still focused on CRÓNICA) on the newest release on this Portuguese label. This is the album SOUND by LUÃS ANTERO & DARIUS ÄŒIUTA. Released on New Year’s Day, this two track album of very quiet minimalist lowercase music is a download that features the two album tracks in 16-bit/44.1kHz CD quality, as well as the album cover in good resolution and a PDF with an additional extension of the album cover, the tracklist, album description and credits. The album is available as a free download but as always you can also donate 1 or more Euros to the artists and label through Bandcamp’s pay what you want option.
SOUND is described as a kind of sonic experiment in which the two sound artists were looking to create a new sonic experience produced digitally using unconventional methods and combining sound and the graphic representation of the pieces as being the same. The results are two extended pieces totaling 1 hour 3 minutes that are very subtle, quiet and minimal but also strangely effective to create some really special experiences from this sound in your mind. First track G is the most subtle of the two pieces, starting off very soft and with mostly very low frequencies. In fact both pieces feature quite some more sub bass than mid or high frequencies, making this music you can only actually experience on a good sound system or on headphones and it’s something you feel more than hear. On G a cloud of very intensely filtered sound just about in the midrange moves around somewhere around the middle of the sound field while very low frequencies rumble through the ground. It’s a piece that feels quite like listening to various mixed thoughts in your mind from the outside of your head, like listening to another room or environment while the sound also occupies space in the place where you are listening to the album. Very cloudy and subtle moving, the sound both triggers a kind of meditative state as well as enables you to let your thoughts drift but also creates new ones for you. On second track S the music comes a bit more to the foreground and the sub bass frequencies become more audible. S features more manipulations in the low-mid frequency cloud of sound that are again very subtle but noticable on close listening and the sub bass also pulsates nicely at times. The piece also interestingly features one short moment of a little wash of white noise in the left channel, surprising and unexpected when it happens. On S the sound seems to tell a bit more of a complex abstract story or creates fictional fragmented memories in a way. It’s the kind of cross of sound art and experimental music that is very extreme in its subtle sound but also creates unique and intriguing experiences in the mind of the listener. SOUND is an album you discover on listening the two pieces for the first time and afterwards explore in the little details within the sounds that float around in these spaces.
SOUND by LUÃS ANTERO & DARIUS ÄŒIUTA is a curiously minimal and introspective album of unique lowercase sonic material that inspires not just through listening but also by the experiences created in the mind by these clouds of sound. It’s an especially unique release in CRÓNICA’s discography, a great start of 2019 as another great year full of experimental and creative sonics and a recommended album for people looking for a deep listening experience to pause nowadays noisy life and discover new sonic abstract stories through the subtlest of crafted sounds. Orlando Laman