RF
Interno
(Odd Shaped Case Records)
RF is Ryan Francesconi. RF is Radio Frequencies. RF is pastoral electronic post rock. RF is all of the above, and while RF may not be a household name in the whispered world of cooler-than-thou musical artists, Interno is a remarkably subtle and confident journey through a lush mixture of electronic and organic soundscapes. Over the course of 14 tracks and almost 70 minutes, Francesconi and friends weave a delicate tapestry of engaging sound that recalls a wide variety of styles.
The disc opens with the sound of digital crickets on "Idlelow," and the warm skitters soon fuse with quiet, stuttering drums, a warm guitar melody, and some breathy lyric-less vocals from Pilar Diaz. Not quite as childlike and light as Mum, it recalls the playfullness of that group with a deft touch. On the following track "Sunday Park," the percussion falls more on the human side things, and gentle horns and gurgling keyboards all create a warm and rich bed of sound for more vocals. Calling to mind a slightly more laid-back version of Stereolab, or work by the overlooked Seely, the long track unfolds slowly as several different pieces of instrumentation rotate their turn at the front of the mix.
Whereas that track picked things up a bit, they drop right back off again on the lovely "Sunspot." With guitars that reverb as far as the ear can hear and a rich underpinning of bass, it's reminiscent of the Mi Media Naraja and E Luxo So-era work by Labradford. Things get right back in the thick of things with "Down," as stutter-stepping breakbeat programming chugs along underneath washes of synths and filtered horns. Sprinkled throughout the album are four different pieces that simply go by the name "Internal Notes," but they're no less songs than any of the other material on the album, despite their standard titles. "#1" is nothing more than swells of violin and cello interplay, but it acts as a nice breather, while "#4" pings and dissects a pretty guitar melody into something not quite organic.
Although I dropped a lot of different group names above in comparison, all of the tracks on this release have enough of a life and spontinaety to easily breath on their own. While their aren't any huge crescendo's and builds, it's all about the little things on the release that make it so good. Once it arrives at the alien-chatter beat versus string-quartet track of "Becoming," you can throw out all the comparisons you want, but the fact remains that Interno stands on its own quite well. While you probably haven't heard of Francesconi (who also programs his own software for sound manipulation and control) yet, it would be a shame if you didn't at some point in the near future.
Rating: 7.5
