An impressionistic and dreamlike sound portrait of the island of Borneo.
A globetrotter in the most pure and respectful sense, away from the trappings of neo-colonialist ventures and predatory tourism, Discrepant head honcho Gonçalo F. Cardoso returns to his Island impression series to offers us another glimpse of his deep, abstract impressions of (an)other island.
After passionately collecting the sounds and lives inhabiting the main Island of Zanzibar, Unguja, released through Edições CN back in 2018, Cardoso now dwells into the Malaysian heartbeat of the Borneo forest through Island recordings made during a trip in 2016. Assembled in situ with meticulous craft from portable recorders, samplers and battery powered synths, these nice recollections conjure the spirits that lurk behind the inhabitable and the communal that are as much part of a personal memoir as an impressionistic portrait open to new meanings. Focused compositions that flow organically, bending the environment in & out of shape into a new dreamlike exotica with plenty of breathing room for every detail, silence and movement to surface.
A particular moment suspended in time, haunted perpetually by its bygone existence. Something no postcard or photograph could ever, ever come even close to.
Gonçalo F. Cardoso runs the label
Discrepant, founded in London in 2011, with the aim to deconstruct, distort and re-assemble the lore of (un)popular music around the world, as well as its sub-labels Sucata Tapes, Farsa Discos and Souk Records. He also releases music under the Papillon moniker as well as Gonzo.
See also
Lagoss (Gonçalo F. Cardoso, Mladen Kurajica & Daniel García).