A Closer Listen
What are the chances that two albums inspired by brutalist architecture would be released in the same season? FAÇADISMS, to be unveiled on Rafael Anton Irisarris very own Black Knoll imprint, arrives on the heels of mHz’s Material Prosody on Room40. But just like mHz’s work, FAÇADISMS is about far more than architecture.
The cover photo, captured where Irisarri spent his childhood in La Perla, Puerto Rico, is a metaphor for kingdoms that rise and fall, and those whose power rests on thin pretexts. Irisarri’s fascination with “The American Myth” and Potemkin villages stretches the metaphor to a global scale. FAÇADISMS addresses the “illusions of safety, democracy and free speech” built by despots and their ilk. Fittingly, the LP will drop on the first Friday after the American presidential election, whose results may imbue the album with an even greater resonance. Whatever the outcome, the sub-theme still holds true: “The American Myth” is in decline, Shelley’s “Ozymandias” more prescient by the day.
Drone is perfectly suited to reflect the abrasion of time. The genre’s extended tones offer a vision of permanence, but tonal deterioration leads to disintegration, as epitomized by the opening track, in which chords rise from nothingness, seek the levels of the Tower of Babel, and collapse beneath their own weight. The same could be said of cities, nations and ideologies. When the first distinct guitar melody emerges on “A Little Grace Is Abundance” (a memorable title!) one knows it won’t echo for long; and therein lies its beauty and its message.
“Control Your Soul’s Desire for Freedom,” which features Julia Kent on cello and Hannah Elizabeth Cox on wordless vocals, attempts to spare the citizen of a supposed democracy from dashed hope, yet the music, mournful as it may be, is also shimmering and majestic, like the dream offered but seldom fulfilled. Sorrow and allure co-exist here. It’s as on the one hand Irisarri is composing an elegy, while on the other he continues to believe, reminiscent of a funeral taking place without a body because the remains were never found.
The black hole of “Hollow” is even more stark after the lushness of “Control.” The music is stripped down to its basics, an architecture without an inhabitant. From this point forward the album shifts to a time after, a reminiscence, a reassessment. “The Only Things that Belong to Us are Memories” rises from the ashes only to fall again, like an elderly person whose sudden rush of energy quickly disperses when they attempt to rise from bed. Are the best days of Irisarri’s adopted nation over? Despite the artist’s approach, he finds the dream pernicious, the letting go nearly impossible. The strings of “Forever Ago Is Now” cannot help but inspire, a reminder that recalibration can set a nation on a better path; a dream can still come true, if only enough people are moved to action.
After the burning embers of the penultimate piece, the spotlight shifts to Nairobi, the capital of other nation beset by its own difficulties. Co-authored with KMRU, with vocals by Yamila, the collaboration is a true international effort, sparking the question: is the way forward for each nation less a question of national identity than of global identity? The track builds from and dissolves into field recordings, representative of the world before and after humanity; but it doesn’t need to be this way. We simply need to tear down the facades and build something durable: a reaality so appealing that it engulfs the myth. (Richard Allen)
Tue Nov 05 00:01:39 GMT 2024