Fernando Perdomo 2026
Clouds 6
Deeper into the dusk, darkness-dwelling sound-director delves into dynamical detail of melodic diorama.
For all the stylistic arcs of his annual album runs, Fernando Perdomo has never been overtly conceptual in terms of multi-record spans, yet those who follow the American’s endeavors are bound to consider this platter a sequel to "Clouds 3" – and not only because of artwork but from a tonal point of view, too. It will also feel like an entirely instrumental follow-up to "Goodbye Sun" that found Fern and his fellow traveler pondering romantic nuances of evening tiredness. There are further signs of ideational, rather than performative, fatigue here, which can explain why Fern chose to be so literal in depicting Mike Savdia’s cover photo via “Orange Sunset” – a five-part suite forming most of the second half of his second series’ sixth chapter. Still, nestling a concept within a concept can create a concept per se.
However, Perdomo hardly thought of such heavy matters when he dove into the golden wonder of “Glory” that slowly lures the listener towards his crepuscular world through the symphonic reveal of a voiceless song carved out of low frequencies and given a higher pitched silver lining. With the album’s flow first segueing into “Vista Point” whose harmony-engulfed, tasty twang is almost ear-splitting, and then into “Dusty Air” which explores reverb and volume in a similar way, without ever losing sight of the tune, the results of this nigh-scientific approach are gorgeous. There’s reserved beauty even when “The Darkest Night” brings echoes to the fore as if to conceal the piece’s mellifluous vibe behind amplitude-controlled anxiety and deliver a long-lingering finale, whereas “Sundrops” probes the same method in a breathtaking, and bass-anchored, pointillist fashion. But while “The Stream Of Life” locates more liquid notes in its filigreed undercurrent, the aforementioned quinquepartite epic significantly increases the degree of awe by moving various moods, including jubilantly light passages in the sequence’s third section, through the landscape “Gnosis” has painted in broader strokes and sparsely sprinkled with percussion.
A compelling, albeit slightly bleak, spell of music – one that perfectly suits its time of day.
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