ABUL MOGARD & RAFAEL ANTON IRISARRI - LIVE AT LE GUESS WHO


Le Guess Who is a Dutch yearly festival presenting a broad spectrum of music, 'promoting sounds that are often overlooked, and to platform fresh perspectives on what is possible in music'. Over the years, it has grown into one of the greatest and most important festivals for adventurous music in Europe - attracting visitors from over 60 different countries to Utrecht (my hometown).
Ambient/Electronic music is well-represented throughout this festival, among the countless other genres. The 2024 edition presented quite some remarkable performances. Among those scheduled on Saturday evening in the beautiful (and reverberating) space of the Jacobi church were two duos both presenting their overwhelming sets: one was Kevin Richard Martin / KMRU, the other Abul Mogard / Rafael Anton Irisarri.


Mogard and Irisarri performed a carefully structured set, presenting material from Impossibly Distant, Impossibly Close, released earlier that year. The set starts slowly and restrained - 'opening with field recordings to serve as a palette cleanser before transitioning into "Waking Up Dizzy on a Bastion"—a piece that builds from delicate bowed guitar and synth tones to become an immersive wall of sound filling the vaulted ceilings of the gothic church with its raw emotional power.''At the heart of the set is "Place of Forever," showcasing Mogard’s sweeping synth lines, and paired with Irisarri’s signature cascading guitar textures, they stretch the tension and release over seventeen spellbinding minutes.'These two tracks from Impossibly Distant, Impossibly Close were mixed into an uninterrupted set also featuring two other tracks which (as far as I know but correct me if I'm wrong) are previously unreleased: A Secret Postcard From Nowhere and Cascade Infinite.
An intense and almost physical set like this can of course best be experienced live. But this recording of the full 50-minute set is almost as good as being there (provided you play it at an appropriate volume of course). Well-recorded, and meticulously mastered by Stephan Mathieu, who managed to 'preserve every nuance of the live experience—from the reverberations of Jacobikerk’s ancient walls to the standing ovation of the attentive audience'.


For those who were there, this is a reminder of the unforgettable experience that night. For those who could not be there, this is a nice compensation for what you missed out on.
And the best news of all is that this live recording is released as a name-your-price download!! Available from Abul Mogard's Bandcamp page or from Rafael Anton Irisarri's Bandcamp page.


Live at Le Guess Who? by Abul Mogard & Rafael Anton Irisarri




--- originally published on Ambientblog ---

Ver todos los episodios