Retro Porter is the lucky 7th album by A Journey of Giraffes for Somewherecold Records. Recorded in Barcelona and Baltimore, among other places, the album derives its inspiration from the architectural feats of Antoni Gaudi. Using Gaudi’s technique of trencadis- where cracked tile is rearranged and placed in a surreal yet somehow organized pattern- AJOG takes the fragments of sound and applies them in recursive formations. Motifs appear, dissolve, and reappear amidst other motifs undergoing the same process— familiarity escalates in tandem with unfamiliarity at a growing pace.

Retro Porter also draws its breath from the idea of the flaneur (see The Arcades Project by Walter Benjamin). As described elsewhere, the flaneur “sees the world through a kaleidoscope, finds solitude in a crowd, and delights in anonymity.”

In short, everything connects neatly in Retro Porter though the pieces might appear disparate and diffuse. The sounds of this album disorient and orient simultaneously. The sum of all your daydreams writ large.

“Mirages, imaging’s, the sound of birds in the iron lattice gardens of an ostentatious arcade percent as described in late 19th century novella’s, sonorous pitches, the softened sound of a taiko drum at the Kabuki theatre, various hinges, dulcimer-like strokes all evaporate then solidify to create an ambient opus; a lifetimes work coalesced into one expansive, layered work of soundscape art and abstraction. Lane has allowed his mind to wander and explore organic and cerebral long form ideas like never before to produce, perhaps, his most accomplished unrestricted work yet.”
Dominic Valvona
Monolith Cocktail

The Perusal #56: Staple Jr. Singers, A Journey Of Giraffes, L’ Étrangleuse, Head Shoppe, Pastense…