SWIMMING
Ellipses
AB037
Audiobulb Records 2011
13 Tracks. 44mins50secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: DLD iTunes: DLD

Swimming is a musical endeavour centred around California-based musician Devon Ferrucci. Whilst he records mostly alone, friends are welcome to drop by and contribute on occasion, and two appear here, one, Anthony Taibi, adds steel guitar on Pretending To Have A Heart Attack, the other, Rebekah Dickens, adorns Hourglass With Snow with delicate harp touches. Ferrucci works from a variety of acoustic instruments (guitar, drums and an array of plastic and metal objects) which he then processes and assembles into coherent sonic vignettes.

The music on Ellipses, which was recorded during Ferrucci’s last two years at university, was for the most part improvised. Using a few notes on a guitar or a particular sound or texture as a starting point, these embryos of ideas were then fed into his computer, worked and reworked until more defined structures started to emerge. The resulting compositions are rather diverse, going from resolutely intricate acoustic constructions to openly electronic pieces but, whatever the process, the same attention to detail and thorough approach infuse these tracks.

At times, the music is wonderfully pastoral (We Fill Gaps, Hourglass With Snow, Ellipsis Pt. 1), as sounds resonate around exquisite melodies, which in turn appear to flow from one sequence to the next without ever breaking up against any coarse structures. Elsewhere, Ferrucci builds up stunning dreamy constructions which he dips in reverbs to give them a slightly hazier feel (Pretending To Have A Heart Attack), opts for a slightly tarnished psychedelic finished (Serious Cycling (A New Yorker In Winter)) or tips the balance between acoustic and electronic slightly in favour of the latter (Ticky-Tacky).

On Body Without Organs, he combines electric guitar, electronic textures and tabla to create a rather intriguing mood, while the two pieces bookending this record, ((Aspirated) Plosives and Imagined Openings) showcase some interesting use of tiny percussive sounds and noises which seem to act as sonic filters, purifying the layers upon which they come across.

Despite of its great variety, Ellipses feels for the most part surprisingly consistent, its delicate structures flourishing into poetic compositions. While the intense sound processing which serves the whole record is very tangible, this doesn’t in any way interfere with the lyrical aspect of the finished composition, making this album a rather delightful offering.

3.7/5

Swimming | Audiobulb Records
Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: DLD iTunes: DLD