The combination of field recordings, Latin folk, eerie melodic motifs and gloriously melancholy and slightly sinister atmospheres makes this one of the most interesting and original things I’ve heard in a while.
[Release page] The premise of this LP is something which sounds interesting. Despite talking about the LP in terms of a journey and expressing transformation and growth, the kind of talk which is often an indication of some arty self indulgent rambling, the blurb stated that The Road Is A River was the result of field recordings taken in various countries over the course of a year by Ecuadorian born producer Daniel Lofredo Rota. The samples have been used as the raw material for the compositions, and are intertwined with signal processing, live instruments, percussion, beat programming and all the stuff you would expect as well as being, and this is the part that caught my attention in particular, blended with snippets from Latin American Folk artists. Now, as I have frequently displayed, I am a sucker for hearing genuine music from cultures and countries other then my own, and I love non pretentious electronic exploration, so this LP, seemingly combining the two was something that I felt immediately interested in. This is the kind of thing that might be absolutely amazing or, put politely, disappointing. I have mixed feelings about the use of old music in new compositions, it can either be done with deference and respect to great effect, or can end up being the heartless plundering of a seam of cultural heritage, a crutch for someone’s lack of ideas.
I’m very happy to say that this LP is in fact a bit of a find! The LP starts with a recording of a Flamenco guitar song which is along the lines of Paco de Lucía. Flamenco is truly one of the great musical forms, combining as it does incredible technical mastery and a raw passion which is conveyed through the music beyond any word based language. This is slowly enveloped in a blanket of atmospheric soundscape evolved from the original sound. It’s full of brooding moodiness, retaining much of the feel of the intro but slowly becoming more overbearing and adventurous. Rhythms appear out of the background, programmed drums and samples dipping in and out of swelling vocal textures and subtle string lines.
The LP follows in a similar vein throughout, with beautiful and emotionally charged atmospheres, often developed from vocal samples, juxtaposed with sudden powerful bursts of energy in the form of abrupt drums and percussion. There is a sense of sadness that pervades The Road Is A River, largely helped by the heavy use of those Latin Folk samples the blurb promised. There is a remoteness too, a sense of space and distance. As much as I hate to admit it, I find myself agreeing with the pretentious sounding description of the LP; it does indeed have the feel of a journey somehow.
This is the debut LP from Daniel Lofredo Rota, an Ecuadorian who now resides in San Francisco. It seems a remarkably mature work for a debut. It’s not trying too hard to get in people’s faces, it’s genuinely interesting with lots of ideas going on, and the overall feel is fantastically melancholy and edgy. If I had a gripe it would be that some of the drum sounds are little bit ‘General MIDI’ in places, but that really is being slightly churlish, in fact it was only after several listens that I even noticed this.
The combination of field recordings, Latin folk, eerie melodic motifs and gloriously melancholy and slightly sinister atmospheres makes this one of the most interesting and original things I’ve heard in a while. I’ll be keeping an eye open for more of Lofeye’s output.
The Road Is A River is available on Twocircles. [Release page]
