Ross Alexander’s Memorias Vol.1 – Bugandan Sacred Places appeared on a Discrepant offshoot label, Sucata Tapes and was a unique travelogue, merging field recordings with and session recordings with Ugandan musicians with his own original composition using the Yamaha DX7 and programmed FM synthesis. Memorias Vol.2 is a different trip, this time to Morocco in 2018.
Many of the recordings are quite nondescript, if not for the titles you’d have no idea of the location or country of origin. The amalgamation with the synthetic sounds too feels quite unique, stripped down, gentle, near ambient electronic excursions, periodically punctuated by voices, rustling or even instrumentation recorded in place. The technique is quite familiar with much of the work on Discrepant, or event he likes of Muslimgauze or Tokyo Bloodworm, though the approach goes as far back as David Fanshawe’s bizarre mash of Latin chorals and Middle Eastern tribal music of African Sanctus. The results here thankfully are much more subtle. Alexander’s approach is near ambient, waves of electronic flourishes over the rickety recordings. Percussion is lethargic, everything washed out, delayed, reverbed, treated. The recordings themselves aren’t held up as pristine and unimpeachable, they are merely part of the compositional process.
This is strange, minimal and quite beautiful. There is so much space here. Sounds build, percolate, ring out and drone, it almost has a new age quality. It’s hard to know how much the initial recordings influenced the musical decisions, but everything does feel quite blissful and designed for deep listening.
