Fernando Perdomo 2026
Clouds
When vapors turn into crystal visions and liquid dreams, melodic endeavors take on a new meaning.
For all the marine fluctuations of Fernando Perdomo‘s “Waves” – a series of albums which he was releasing in monthly installments over the course of a year – each of those records seemed linked to a shoreline and felt grounded. The American composer decided to up this game, however, by casting his eyes to the skies and challenging himself to another twelve-chapter flight of fantasy – now, towards something more ephemeral, atmospheric and amorphous. Finding balance between jazz-rock and new-age may not have been on Fern’s agenda, but that’s where he’s heading on the first offering in the “Clouds” line – and the fresh concept is a silver lining of sorts, because abstractness often feels strange on the boisterous Perdomo’s platters.
Not that his sonic adventures aren’t tuneful anymore or that they lack mentally tangible form, as elegiac opener “Clouds All Around Us” demonstrated with a gentle twang; it’s just that this piece and quite a few others are as much about stereo-arresting soundscapes as they are about harmonies and hooks one can hum. Here’s why neither “Astrolab” nor “Perfect View” is in a hurry to reveal emotional depths of Fernando’s pointillistic performances, and the tellingly titled “Vast And Bulbous” also finds Perdomo take his sweet time to spread the cut’s dynamic layer wide enough for air to come through and fill the listener’s aural lungs with bliss. Still, if the scintillating “Euphoria” manages to build pressure without being overtly exciting, and “Moving Through The Sky” ripples nigh on absentmindedly in hypnotic way, “Beyond The Blue” reaches for the most unobtrusive balladry one can ever come across, and “Circles Above” brings on cathartic serenity.
So though “Heaven” – not “Cloud Nine”! – indeed projects cold void in a rather abstract manner, the ethereal “Oneness” wraps up the musical drift majestically, eschewing any flashy passages in favor of delicate movements the likes of Monet and Manet would appreciate. Not immaculate but impressive album.
****
