Live by Rafael Anton Irisarri
(self-released)

While it may seem an odd statement regarding an artist whose very nature is in improvisation, there has always been a stark contrast between Rafael Anton Irisarri’s studio work and what he’s able to conjure live. Reverie was a profound (if also restrained) indication of this, and now Irisarri has offered a rich gift to his audience with Live, a collection of four site-specific live pieces recorded over the span of two years.

In the studio, Irisarri’s expansive ambient compositions are sweeping and even epic. But it seems that when he steps on-stage there is a certain change that happens. His music interacts with the acoustic environment of each space purposefully, it seems, and as such there is a greater emphasis on mood, form and evolution as opposed to occupying walls of sound in a stereo field. Irisarri’s live work, particularly on Live, is more evocative and dramatic than most of his catalog, which is certainly saying something considering the overwhelming quality that resides there.

“It’s profoundly gratifying to have a release like Live from an artist like Irisarri, where live creations stand as individually as studio-crafted songs”

The album begins with “London” (each track is titled after the city in which it was performed in). At over thirty-five minutes, this is obviously the show-stealer and the most recognizably ‘Irisarri’ track on Live. Its sweeping elegance and multi-sectional arrangement almost seems classical, on the same levels as Philip Glass or Zbigniew Preisner. “London” stands as not only one of the best tracks on the release, but one of Irisarri’s best pieces, period.

I’m very happy to say that I was present for the album’s second track, “Seattle,” which was recorded at the Triple Door last year. True to the night, the absurd bourgeois sounds of cutlery and clinking wine bottles made their way onto the recording, and the track is that much more beautiful because it cuts so well and so elementally through the radiation of Seattle’s posh elite. Irisarri was accompanied by a pianist and drummer for this show, and as such, “Seattle” contains more energy and diversity than the other three tracks.

“Milano” is significantly darker and meandering than the first two pieces, and its brooding atmosphere makes for a disconcerting afterglow after the melodic energy of “Seattle.” Drones hold together the piece, and it has a particularly classical aesthetic, interrupted by a recurrent Asian flute loop that stabs through the dense sound-fog.

Closing Live is “Krakow,” a much more industrial (literally, not the genre) and sparse piece than any of those previously. Washes of noise and digital glitches careen through the song, weaving around restrained melodies. Though a slight energetic lift after “Milano,” ’Krakow’ is still an eerie closer to Live amidst the post-apocalyptic soundscapes it invokes.

It’s profoundly gratifying to have a release like Live from an artist like Irisarri, where live creations stand as individually as studio-crafted songs. The only equatable live experience would be Swans, who always obliterated and then rebuilt their album songs into completely different things on stage. It may not be as hyped as his other work, Live stands right up there with It All Falls Apart as Irisarri’s most exceptional and beautiful works. Head over to Bandcamp right now and get it, and send a few bucks towards Rafael for making something this good.


REVIEWED BY NEIL LEVENS


+ Read the Groovemine review of Irisarri’s The North Bend
+ Read the Groovemine review of Irisarri’s (as The Sight Below) It All Falls Apart
+ Read the Groovemine AudioFile on Irisarri as The Sight Below

  I30 - Live at Triple Door (May 2010, Seattle) by studio irisarri