RAFAEL ANTON IRISARRI - A FRAGILE GEOGRAPHY
room40 2016
"an exercise in the art of maximal minimalism...charts Irisarri’s personal journey of transience and tumult. His studio, audio archives and possessions were stolen, forcing him to rebuild from ground zero, but such a tabula rasa moment brought a chance for renewal, and for reductive experimentation." - ROOM40
stunning dark ambient masterpiece, haunting, heart-rending, inescapably gripping - IRISARRI's previous works never quite reeled me in, but A FRAGILE GEOGRAPHY got me hook, line and sinker -- it's decidedly less minimalist piano driven, more dynamic ambient synth driven with ghostly orchestration and grainy atmospherics, at times pushed into the red -- ascension alongside rarefied greats like BELONG's OCTOBER LANGUAGE and TIM HECKER's HARMONY IN ULTRAVIOLET, with a potent noir vibe at times in the same headspace as PSI LAB favorite SKITTISH ARM -- an incredible leap forward
highest possible recommendation
minor note regarding release year - though available for purchase since late 2015, IRISARRI's bandcamp eventually updated with a vinyl production delay and distro did not exist until late january (see FORCED EXPOSURE and BOOMKAT release dates) - as far as i can tell this didn't physically exist until 2016 - all that to say i think this both deserves and qualifies for year end accolades come december
http://room40.limitedrun.com/
also note that IMMUNE got some of the sold out smoky clear vinyl edition shipping randomly, which is how i got mine -- if you head that way definitely pick up the latest greatest EXPO 70 lp KINETIC TONES on bronze vinyl while you're at it if you haven't already
http://immunerecordings.net/catalog/a-fragile-geography/
http://immunerecordings.net/catalog/kinetic-tones/
LIMITED EDITION CASSETTES
