Rafael Anton Irisarri – Hopes and Past Desires
Seattle-based artist Rafael Anton Irisarri, who also records through his Shoegaze/Ambient Techno project The Sight Below, follows his terrific 2007 debut “Daydreaming” (issued by Miasmah), with this frankly astonishing two-track 7-inch.
The eponymous Side A track is as tentative as a morning sun attempting to break from the shackles of lingering rain clouds, as muted and treated piano sways back and forth growing in stature, interrupted only by a beautiful string score written, arranged and performed by Peter Broderick collaborator Danny Norbury. The flipside, “Watching As She Reels”, is even more dazzling. Threading an intricate toybox melody around aching cello strains. For five mesmerising minutes the music effortlessly glides past, the world appearing to stand still with Side B radiating a timeless aura.
A deeply moving recorded document that only frustrates in the fact that it has left me desperate for more.