Polmo Polpo - The Science Of Breath

7.5 - Canada - 2002

Ambient work by the Toronto-based producer Sandro Perri that collects four previously released tracks intersticed with shorter pieces. Most of the music is carefully sculpted ambient sounds -- much of which comes off as "white noise", and that is not intended in any pejorative way, as it is "noise" only in the sense of not being pitched; it is exquisitely shaped and massaged into various textures and rhythms. Indeed, in keeping with the title, these tracks are built around layers of what could be described as "electronic breathing". Individual sounds -- gentle, looping rhythms, ghosts of guitars, ebbing synth washes -- rise and fall in the flow with varying degrees of mufflement. "Oarca", in particular, is a highlight, as dublike beat gradually emerges from a hazy fog of synthesized wind patterns. The short interludes (all with titles relating to breath, each one deeper than the last as if to simulate a dive underwater) are generally skippable, but still of minor interest due to their immersiveness. In the final track, "Riva", a funny thing happens: we are presented with a more or less straight-forward hi-hat-snare-bass drum beat that, coming at the end of the such a fascinating exploration of sound and texture, can't help but sound, well, terribly pedestrian.