Sandro Perri

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Starting from square two: Last year Sandro Perri released some private recordings he did with some friends on an EP called Sandro Perri Plays Polmo Polpo that you might call “showing some ankle”. His mission, a unique one in the field of ambient music, was to reinterpret several years of work under his Polmo Polpo moniker, for completely different instrumentation. That being acoustic guitar, small drum kit, euphonium and voice! Other players contributed to realizing this project like famed Torontonian labelmate Eric Chenaux, but this was the basic skeleton of the sound. Songs like “Requiem For A Fox” are given lyrics in the shape of the slide-guitar and electronic melodies they were borne into.

Not quite sharing the same values as the folk tradition, Perri’s music once again slips inside and out of generic boundaries. Instead, for the obscure instrumentation that his newest release, Tiny Mirrors, employs, the music seems to be rooted in the types of rhythmic guitar structures and harmonies akin to both native Hawaiian music and the Brazilian Tropicalia movement of the 1960s.

But before I go on, let me quickly digress to speak of the magic inherent in Tiny Mirrors’ thematic use of interpretation that follows it around everywhere it goes. The first song, “Family Tree”, a tune about tracing your bloodline’s reflection using yourself as the mirror, is reinterpreted instrumentally by the band sans Perri to close the album. They call it “Mirror Tree” as it reflects the idea of this seedling that grows tall and strong through interpretive and improvisational practices. One of the tracks, “Double Suicide” is twice removed from its original version as the version which has seen its first official release is a reinterpreted session of itself. The title is self-referential as well, as Perri often has played under the name Double Suicide.

This entire album is the reflective mirror image of pre-written music and improvisation not clashing together, but existing simultaneously within each other. And so Perri’s relevant influences are used as base texts as well, which he allows himself the freedom to interpret. Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’” is covered with simple rearrangements, speaking to a certain argument for a musical family tree of borrowed material and ideas throughout history.

Ironically, Perri’s expressed personal vision between Plays Polmo Polpo and Tiny Mirrors has become significantly sharpened through the process of letting other musicians improvise around him. He began this era of his career reinterpreting himself and with Tiny Mirrors, he lets the other musicians spontaneously interpret the music. This allowance is incredibly mature. Tiny Mirrors is an homage to uncovering one’s self-image out of the love and playback of others.

Jeremy Young