Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Alvear / Bondi: Sigh (Carried Away) / Grado de potencia #2

1

Alvear / Bondi: Sigh (Carried Away) / Grado de potencia #2

By

View read count
Alvear / Bondi: Sigh (Carried Away) / Grado de potencia #2
Sigh (carried away) / Grado de potencia #2 is the first in a series of three albums which are part of a project by the duo comprising Chilean guitarist Cristian Alvear and Swiss percussionist & Insub co-ordinator Cyril Bondi. The series' recordings will feature interpretations of six new compositions commissioned by the duo from three Chilean and three Swiss artists, This album features the two compositions which give it its title, "Sigh (carried away)" composed by d’incise, and "Grado de potencia #2" by Chile's Santiago Astaburuaga. The tracks were recorded between May and July 2021 at Insub.studio in Geneva and at Alvear's home studio in Santiago.

On Bandcamp, the tracks are listed separately with durations of forty-two-and-a-half minutes and twenty minutes, respectively, but on the CD they play sequentially as one sixty-three-minute track. Either way, the two tracks contrast with one another; on his composition, d'incise contributes electroacoustic treatments to Alvear's electric guitar and Bondi's four cymbals, which makes sense as he wrote it; on Astaburuaga's piece, Bondi and Alvear both contribute field recordings in addition to their percussion and electric guitar.

The different instrumentations on the two compositions give them dissimilar soundscapes, making them feel quite different. from each other. On "Sigh (carried away)," Bondi's cymbal work gives the piece a steady tempo which combines with d'incise's interjections to give a quasi-industrial feel. "Grado de potencia #2" is more diffuse, as its field recordings intermittently feature human voices, animal sounds and birdsong, punctuated with occasional silences, Both make good listening and their contrasts make them a well-chosen pair. As the first of this series, the album works in its own right and also augers well for those to follow.

Track Listing

Sigh (carried away); Grado de potencia #2.

Personnel

Cyril Bondi
percussion
Cristián Alvear
guitar, electric
Additional Instrumentation

Cyril Bondi: four cymbals (1), field recordings etc, (2); Cristian Alvear: field recordings (2); d'incise: electroacoustic treatments (1).

Album information

Title: Sigh (Carried Away) / Grado de potencia #2 | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Insub

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.