Drenaje subterráneo. PABLO RECHE, JUAN JOSÉ CALARCO
(Siridisc 2012)
Most often, we have a natural curiosity for the things remaining in shadowy light or invisible – probably because it links us to the fundamental Mystery of our lives…
On “Drenaje Subterráneo”, veteran soundshaper Pablo Reche & ultra sensitive field recordist Juan José Calarco unite their forces to present an astounding travelogue along the most obscure part of a city : it’s net of sewers and buried waterways – a seething underworld in itself.
Being physically almost inaccessible increases the feat of the recording situation, but the most challenging is the displacement of perception on a level we aren’t used to.
The sleeve notes don’t offer any clue or relevant precisions about the work method, so we can only have a guess at how the core of the project articulated itself…one may suppose some recording device/mics have been strategically positioned in the pipes to capture the subtle shades of the liquid subcurrents, each jolt of the flow, its furtivity, and also the fluctuating volumes of air pressure…
Around 8:45 mins is a highly contrasting passage on the forefront, causing a rather brutal disruption, like receiving a cascade in full face, but strangely enough it doesn’t cut the wings of our reverie…shortly after this abrasive moment, the contemplative course of our observation continues.
There might be some extraneous elements involved, other than the pipe sounds, but they are so well amalgamated to the main substance that they only seem to exist to underline further more the characteristics of the place…
Everything contributes to create a fictional space proper to everyone and extremely fertile in terms of sensations.
No blatant dark connotations, but fine resonances, faint echoes, buzzing flies, loud air, a high degree of humidity, an expanding indefinable emanation in suspension.
This is incredibly dense & altogether focused for a single EP, and again a master work from Juan José Calarco, doubled here by Pablo Reche’s idiosyncratic talent…not far in terms of meaning & impact from the gripping Tarab piece on a split 3”CDR with Eric La Casa for Compost & Height…
A long coiled descent plenty of infinitesimal details, captivating from start to end, till the final fading gurgle..
-Daniel Crokaert
Pablo Reche website
Juan José Calarco website
Siridisc website
