- The densest, most freeform record to date from the prolific Spanish ambient producer.
- Suso Sáiz's Cinderella story follows the likes of Soichi Terada and Beverly Glenn-Copeland. The Spanish producer has been around since the '70s, building up a small but respectable following in his home country making lush and spiritual New Age music. All of this changed when Music From Memory came knocking in 2016. Sáiz is now increasingly booked at international festivals, collaborates with artists like Suzanne Kraft and is a regular on NTS. The label has continued to reissue records by some of his other projects, including Orquesta De Las Nubes and Musica Esporádicau. Sáiz has returned the favor, releasing a staggering amount of new material on Music From Memory. His latest is Resonant Bodies, featuring 18 new compositions that set aside song structure entirely, opting instead for nimble explorations of texture and timbre that feel dense yet also delicate.
2016's career retrospective Odisea was an introduction to Sáiz's best recordings from the '80s and '90s. Those were songs full of brightness and color, some that could even work in a DJ set—check out those meaty kicks on "Prefiero El Naranja" or the AM radio funk of "Una Gota De Asfalto." And while Saiz has carried on some of those tendencies throughout his career, his recent work has become more experimental. 2017's excellent Rainworks featured weightless ambient broken up by passing guitar melodies, bird calls and the occasional plop of water. His follow-up, 2018's Nothing Is Objective, was even more ethereal and amorphous.
Speaking to Objects & Sounds, Sáiz explained how his music has changed: "I think my principles were previously anchored in traditional concepts, structures, harmonies, and rhythms. Little by little, they disappeared, and my music became more horizontal, static and reflective."
Resonant Bodies continues the shift. But where Nothing Is Objective was "horizontal," Resonant Bodies feels vertical, which might be down to Sáiz's method. Instead of singular sessions, he added to these tracks gradually over the course of two years, stacking ideas on top of one another. "Vertidos And Songs" is like staring down into a crevice as your eyes adjust to the dark. At first the hissing feedback is chaotic, until bright modular synths chirp across the stereo before the song gives way to plaintive chords. Almost all of the tracks here play with this format. Sáiz starts with undulating chords stretched to their absolute limit and adds Lego blocks of melody on top—whether that's the strings on "Paseando El Encierro," the distorted horns on "Purple Trains" or even just changes in volume on "Inside The Egg."
Although Sáiz considers himself a guitar player above all else, there is surprisingly little of his virtuoso playing on Resonant Bodies. But when he does break out the axe, it's memorable. The hushed chords that weave in and out of "Resonance Necklace" are enough to give you goosebumps. Alongside the breathtaking beauty of the guitar, Sáiz also sneaks in a few moments of dissonance to keep us on our feet. The abrupt feedback that eventually consumes "Two Souls" is like being doused with cold water, while the crash of "Floating Into The Avalanche" does a pretty good job of living up to its namesake.
In another recent interview, Sáiz explained, "Usually, I'm not so interested in the past. I prefer to live [in] present time as deeply as possible and, sometimes, to dream in the future as the child I was." At a lengthy 82 minutes, there are moments where you can feel completely lost in Sáiz's dreamworld. But there is a slow, gradual narrative, as he introduces guitar or the occasional errant noise to build tension. This is ultimately what makes Resonant Bodies one of his most delightful records. When you suspend your disbelief fully and give yourself over to the textures and timbres that he paints with, it's easy to slip into his version of the future.
Tracklist01. Inside The Egg
02. Tarde De Agosto 2019
03. Sweet Instability
04. Two Souls
05. El Espejo
06. Brushed Thoughts
07. Looking You In Silence
08. Floating Into The Avalanche
09. Abrazo 2020
10. Resonance Necklace
11. Vertidos & Songs
12. If I Close My Eyes
13. Purple Trains
14. When I Sleep
15. Changes And Reality
16. Watching Walk
17. Paseando El Encierro
18. Outskirts