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"The streets are full of admirable craftsmen, but so few practical dreamers."
- Man Ray
Seattle resident, multi-instrumentalist, producer, label owner, and music publisher working closely with the Scandinavian techno scene. As a sound artist, Rafael combines rustling static, haunting piano melodies, beautiful slide guitar and glitchy synthesizer. His compositions range from electro-acoustic works that incorporate organic, electronic and non-conventional instruments to melancholic pieces that can be both epic and subdued. Dreamy textures float effortlessly and dissolve into one another leaving the listener basking in shimmering beauty.
AVAILABLE NOW
Daydreaming | CD/LP/MP3 (2007, Miasmah)
Distributed worldwide by BAKED GOODS
You can find it at your favorite local indie shop or online at these fine retailers:
BOOMKAT www.boomkat.com (UK)
SMALLFISH www.smallfish.co.uk (UK)
DOTSHOP www.dotshop.se (SE)
If you live in the US, Chicago’s Thrill Jockey is carrying it at their MP3 store:
www.fina-music.com (US)
PRESS QUOTES
"An unlikely offering from the Northwest, Seattle composer Rafael Anton Irisarri follows in the shadowy footsteps of likeminded artists such as Max Richter and Greg Haines by creating cinematic fractals from lonesome piano and sparse electronics. His album, Daydreaming, is a haunted abyss of devastation and unease. Though the songs are at their essence beautiful; it’s the kind of beautiful that is filled with quiet loss and harrowing introspection. The piano always remains the focus of Irisarri’s work but when the electronics creep in they bring with them the foreboding sense of time and dissolution; as if the piano struggles to remember the pleasant moments only to be slowly worn away by the insistence of electronic interference. Fittingly enough, Daydreaming is released on Miasmah, home to the aforementioned Haines and Svarte Greiner." - RAVEN SINGS THE BLUES
"While waiting for some spectral new work to materialise from Norway’s Deaf Center, you could do a lot worse than spending some time with the latest long player on founding member Erik Skodvin’s Miasmah label. Subtly restrained and following the cleanest of melodic lines, this debut from Irisarri still manages to sound as though it were recorded inside a piano, rather than just in its immediate vicinity.
Fortunately, the Seattle based producer has a firm enough structural hold on what he’s doing not to become lost in so vast an acoustic space. The results make for an excellent companion to Greg Haines’s Slumber Tides, released on Miasmah last year."
- THE WIRE
"Herr Irisarri konzentriert sich voll und ganz auf das Piano, lässt seine Hand ab und zu über die Slideguitar gleiten und katapultiert uns damit in eine rückwärts geloopte Traumlandschaft, die in ein paar Jahren genauso geschätzt werden wird wie die mittlerweile über 20 Jahre alten Alben von den Helden Eno und Budd. Als ob ein großer Diamant ein Karusell zu langsam fahren lässt, drehen und drehen sich die Stücke immer weiter in die Unendlichkeit. Die Größe und die Bedeutung dieses Albums lässt sich kaum in Worte fassen." - DE:BUG
"Irisarri creates music that can be both epic and subdued, with dreamy textures floating effortlessly and dissolving into one another...The listener can only bask in its shimmering beauty." - ANGRY APE
"Irisarri, who cites Mahler, Debussy and Ravel as influences, combines rustling static, haunting piano melodies, a gleeful slide guitar and at times even glitchy synthesizer sounds to evoke a Lynchian otherworldliness."
- FOXY DIGITALIS
"Con i suoi delicati quadretti impressionistici, “Daydreaming†rivela, in definitiva, tutte le
qualità di un artista che riesce a collocarsi con pari dignità accanto ai migliori interpreti di un
ambito musicale invero di recente piuttosto frequentato, dimostrando come, con l’aiuto di
una discreta capacità riassuntiva, si possa dar sfogo alle proprie emozioni senza annoiare o
disturbare ma, anzi, incantando e sperando di trovare condivisione ai propri sogni a occhi
aperti." - LE RECENSIONI DI ONDA ROCK
"Minimal music die langzaam gedroomde klanken laat weggolven. Hij vult dit aan en bewerkt het geheel met organische geluiden en elektronica. Dat varieert van geluiden zijn van de zee, een veraf brandend vuur en vage echo’s van wat misschien ooit stemmen zijn geweest tot celloklanken, kabbelende gitaren en minimale drones die zachtjes tegen de muziek aanschurken." - DE SUBJECTIVISTEN CALEIDOSCOOP
"Ses morceaux offrent une place d’honneur à un piano lent et lointain, lâchant des notes espacées, prenant le temps de s’exprimer au milieu de nappes légères et fugaces, veinées de quelques débris et traitements numériques. Parfois quelques accords cristallins de guitare résonnent longuement (A thousand-yard stare et Lumberton, qui nous renvoient à l’époque 4AD de la précédente décennie), apportant ainsi un peu de brillance à ces troubles ambiances Lynchiennes." - ONDE FIXE
"...glide into your subconscious and refuse to relent - casting out pink-hued soundscapes and filigree melodies that allow the piano to shimmer and evolve." - BOOMKAT.COM
"Bello come sognare a occhi aperti, melodie pianistiche liquefatte in dissolvenze digital-ambient, torpori acustici avvolti in nebbia d’elettricità statica, musiche fuori fuoco che prendono vita come un lungo piano sequenza cinematografico." - BLOW UP
"Daydreaming is a haunting collection of stunning dreamscapes which not only allows for the mind to wander, but actively stimulates mental illusions and emotional attachment. Here, Irisarri assembles an incredibly consistent series of particularly elaborate and evocative ambient pieces which are likely to captivate for years to come." - THE MILK FACTORY
"A carefully constructed soundtrack to your most intriguing dreams, the dreams you might remember for a split second before losing everything, only to have images creep up on you some time later...and as the emotive piano shimmers around radio static and lightly picked guitar it is impossible not to get drawn into the shattered American dream." - DOTSHOP
"...you’d be hard pushed not to like this absolute gem. Cherish it, as music like this is something to be savoured." - SMALLFISH
Videos
’HOPES & PAST DESIRES’
’LUMBERTON’
’FRACTAL’
LIVE A/V PERFORMANCE (clip)
Rafael Anton Irisarri at Decibel Festival 2007
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