Damián Anache
Capturas Del Ùnico Camino
SPAIN CONCEPTO CERO CCL011 / INKILINO RECORDS IR003 CD (2014)
I’m tempted to pronounce this fellow’s surname as “Anarchy” but I bet that’s not correct. A literal translation of the title is Catch The Only Road. Intriguing. At first sight, this disc could be explained away as hi fidelity institutional composition masquerading as free improvisation. However, appearances can be deceiving; appearances here are simply mystifying as the music is backed up by an A3 sheet of text in Spanish explaining the work along with a visual element although not an actual score, from which I do immediately learn that piano, glockenspiel, guitar and percussion are the key elements. The accompanying press release uses such banal descriptors as “…a relaxed tour of abstract scapes…” and “…a beautiful object for passive contemplation”. Does anyone actually buy music specifically to enable them to “contemplate”? I don’t. This nonsense clearly intends to position the work (which also exists as an audio-visual version) as an artwork; something to be listened to, or experienced as one would a painting or sculpture. I think that’s what they’re getting at. It should come as no surprise then, to learn that the music is the result of a piece of bespoke software manipulating recordings of acoustic instruments, vocal sounds (all by Anache) synthesis and recordings of water. Although the watery stuff doesn’t make itself known until the fourth track, ‘Paisaje Natural’. Paisaje translates as landscape or scenery, and all tracks are about scenery of one kind or another; ‘Paisaje Primero’, ‘Paisaje Propio’, ‘Paisaje Artificial’, ‘Paisaje Natural’.
There is almost an hour of material on this disc divided into four pieces. Interestingly, the first three are of identical length. The mood is restrained; nothing screams out for your attention. I have the feeling that these pieces are composed with an eye on the concert hall – there’s certainly a vast feeling of space contained within. I like the casual interjections of electronics, for me they serve to push the music along. Varying levels of intensity throughout the four pieces generate a kind of topographic map of the music. Nice to visit, but I’m still undecided whether I really want to stay for very long.