tiago sousa & joao correia

Insonia

*Another one of those incredible records that appears out of nowhere and absolutely floors us - housed in a sublime vinyl edition printed up in an extremely limited run - fans of Nils Frahm, Peter Broderick, Rachels, Max Richter or The Necks - DO NOT MISS!!!!!* The Humming Conch label introduced itself earlier this year with the wonderful Celer release Capri and now continues to impress and raise its stock with this new limited edition vinyl pressing from the mysterious Tiago Sousa, who teams up with drummer (and co-producer) João Correia and clarinetist Ricardo Ribeiro. Sousa assumes the lead roles: he's the composer, guitarist, organist and pianist, fashioning a delicate and utterly sublime sequence of instrumentals, each captured via recordings made "in a small bedroom at Barreiro"and mastered by none other than 12k's Taylor Deupree. Insónia is Sousa's fourth record and draws upon his accumulated knowledge of classical, experimental and popular forms, all blended into a single suite of compositions. 'Movimento' opens the album exchanging forlorn sounding piano motifs with downbeat strung guitar passages that will leave you gasping for breath. The latter half of the A-side is especially strong, drawing to a close with unaccompanied recordings 'Reflexo' and 'Insónia'. The title track in particular is just exceptionally beautiful, a piano solo that might be the most accomplished, well-made piece of its kind since Gonzales turned his hand to the format five years ago. You can hear the influence of Satie, or even Chopin's Nocturnes at work here, and Sousa's poised, expressive performance is quite magical. Insonia feels more modern, and somehow, more mature than the main thread of classical-styled records that have come our way this year. It's all too easy for countless Max Richter-ites to assume the language of classical music - to dress themselves up in its vestiges - without actually engaging with its disciplines and heritage on a level that goes beyond the surface, but Sousa and his cohorts never try to be anything they're not and instead revel in the strange fusion of influences that produced this record. Illustrating this is the switch between 'Insónia', a very restrained composition that's very much in the romantic classical idiom, and 'Folha Caduca', which paints an entirely different picture, creating something thats lodged between the supreme post-rock styled eloquence of Rachel's and the avant-jazz experiments of The Necks. 'Surrealismo Impressionista' reaches even further out towards the margins with organ and clarinet drones, toying with suspenseful mimimalism while the piano's mournful, emotive qualities continue to draw your ear. There are only a very small number of this amazing record pressed up for the world, we urge you to grab one while it's still in circulation.