Back in the early '00s, when The Science of Breath — the first outpouring of tracks that Sandro Perri released under his Polmo Polpo guise — arrived on the scene, the Toronto-based songwriter, musician and producer's fans could never envision the expansive, wide-ranging stream of output that would arrive in the years to come.
The chameleonic oeuvre that the artist has developed since then has rambled indirectly toward In Another Life, his outsider pop masterpiece. With an unhurried, mellifluous nature, these new tracks are miles apart from those early techno-drone experiments.
The title track meanders unhurriedly over its 24-minute runtime, like an extended broadcast being left to travel toward the heavens. Layered synth sequences, three piano chords, a dream-weaving guitar and Perri's soothing voice all swirl around in a pool of enraptured bliss. There is a focus on both repetition and the subtle shifting of sonic elements, such that one ultimately gets lost in the music. Perri's poetic lyrics find him ruminating on possibilities yet unrealized in our current situation on this revolving, rotating sphere. Those 24 minutes are over before one even realizes it.
With "Everybody's Paris," Perri has crafted a treasure of a pop triptych. Each section features a different vocalist: the producer himself leads off the proceedings, followed by André Ethier (Deadly Snakes) and Dan Bejar (Destroyer), who each unfurl their own lyrical motifs based around Perri's central theme. The instrumentation is changed up for the different passages, but an underlying melody snakes through the entirety of the proceedings
In Another Life is a glorious return for Perri, an album that sits just outside of pop music. Any minor idiosyncrasies are downplayed by just how gorgeous and listenable these songs truly are.
(Constellation)The chameleonic oeuvre that the artist has developed since then has rambled indirectly toward In Another Life, his outsider pop masterpiece. With an unhurried, mellifluous nature, these new tracks are miles apart from those early techno-drone experiments.
The title track meanders unhurriedly over its 24-minute runtime, like an extended broadcast being left to travel toward the heavens. Layered synth sequences, three piano chords, a dream-weaving guitar and Perri's soothing voice all swirl around in a pool of enraptured bliss. There is a focus on both repetition and the subtle shifting of sonic elements, such that one ultimately gets lost in the music. Perri's poetic lyrics find him ruminating on possibilities yet unrealized in our current situation on this revolving, rotating sphere. Those 24 minutes are over before one even realizes it.
With "Everybody's Paris," Perri has crafted a treasure of a pop triptych. Each section features a different vocalist: the producer himself leads off the proceedings, followed by André Ethier (Deadly Snakes) and Dan Bejar (Destroyer), who each unfurl their own lyrical motifs based around Perri's central theme. The instrumentation is changed up for the different passages, but an underlying melody snakes through the entirety of the proceedings
In Another Life is a glorious return for Perri, an album that sits just outside of pop music. Any minor idiosyncrasies are downplayed by just how gorgeous and listenable these songs truly are.
