Rafael Anton Irisarri – Peripeteia (2020)

Review by Paul Simpson: Rafael Anton Irisarri's albums often seem to channel the energy of a thunderstorm: they're heavy, gray, and gloomy, yet ultimately replenishing, and can be downright rapturous, depending on the circumstances. Peripeteia continues in the vein of past triumphs like A Fragile Geography and Solastalgia, but it's bolder and more immediate, pulling frayed melodies closer into focus, and revealing darker emotional depths. His compositions flow in vast, sorrowful waves, slowly stirring and gathering distortion until the listener is engulfed. The rustling, trembling "Mellified" is one of the album's harsher pieces, particularly due to its smoldering doom metal bass. "Arduous Clarity" is more heavenly, with gleaming synth melodies attempting to escape the all-consuming wash. "Yearn" is propelled by a simple, steady bassline, which echoing guitars dance around until they're swept away by the tide. Perhaps most devastating is "Fright and Control," which opens like one of Burial's rain-drenched ambient soundscapes, with decayed bass gradually giving way to corroded trance synths. "Vanishing Points," the eight-minute conclusion, feels relatively calm and resolved, as if the storm has nearly passed, but there's still a lingering sense of uncertainty to it, combined with a feeling of acceptance that the world has changed and there's no choice but to start anew. — allmusic

Track List: 01 - I Still Have the Sun to Cast a Light [05:08] 02 - Between Negative Voids [06:02] 03 - Mellified [05:44] 04 - Arduous Clarity [04:28] 05 - Refuge/Refuse [04:42] 06 - Yearn [04:21] 07 - Fright and Control [05:32] 08 - Vanishing Points [08:04] 09 - Peripeteia (Continuous Mix) [42:30]

Media Report: Genre: ambient, experimental Origin: New York, New York, USA
Format: FLAC Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec Bit rate mode: Variable Channel(s): 2 channels Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz Bit depth: 16 bits Compression mode: Lossless Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)

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