Reorganizing emails from time to time spells “wisdom”. By doing so, in fact, I was able to catch up on some past, and regrettably unfinished exchanges with Argentine guitarist Luis Ianes, and finally proceed to listen to this disc, which he had kindly proposed to me nearly a year ago.
Ten tracks for acoustic and electric guitars, emanating from a “puzzle concept” influenced by Georges Perec’s novel La Vie Mode D’Emploi. In extreme synthesis, recurring fragments or parts – more or less recognizable by the ears – relate to a wholeness of sonic pictures. Beyond the theoretical considerations, Ianes must be admired for an outstanding quality: transparency. Putting both the compositional and the performing phase under the microscope, we observe concise, harmonically interesting structures; no frills and/or guitar-related commonplaces. The space between the notes (almost always clean) is definitely sufficient to enjoy the fascinating resonance of the strings, principally when the contrapuntal grain engenders slightly dissonant auras, tiny fingering indecisions appearing as ornaments. It takes courage and concentration to record the instrument as it is, naked and raw.
The choice to limit the duration of this cycle to just over half an hour is an additional plus of Instrucciones De Uso. One doesn’t get tired of listening; on the contrary, the desire to better interpret Ianes’ lucid creativity emerges rather immediately. That is to say: a modestly incisive work devoid of obvious tricks, to be spun at least two/three times in a row.
MASSIMO RICCI. TOUCHING EXTREMES. 