Some creative people feed off the past, others live in the here and now, but Fernando Perdomo always looks forward to the future, thinking about new endeavors he could direct his energy at. While the American artist’s latest adventure, a collaborative effort with Ian Gothe that paid tribute to CAMEL, was out rather recently, his homage to HALL & OATES scheduled for January 10th, and second joint enterprise with Matt Tecu for March 28th, the guitarist is already referring to 2025 as “this year” – and already has another record done and dusted to predate the two forthcoming platters.
With “Waves” – that’s the title of the album which will see the light of day on January 1st digitally and a month later on CD – the indefatigable Perdomo set a daunting goal for himself: to create a dozen full-length melodic cycles, adding a chapter to the series on a monthly basis… in addition, of course, to other things Fernando’s involved in. What’s the story behind this idea?
“The thing about progressive rock is that the album covers are just as epic as the music – they complement each other – and here’s another example of that,” says Perdomo. “I get really inspired once I have a piece of subject matter to write about. With ‘Out To Sea’ Paul Whitehead had four amazing paintings with a nautical theme. I was perfectly done with it being a trilogy, and then he presented a fourth painting and voilà – the trilogy became four albums!
“I made this record with a different cover in mind that reminded me of waves, Out of the blue, I got a text message from my old friend Joe Galdo, with a photo he took outside his house where he’s retired in Florida – a photo of waves in stunning panoramic detail. I asked him if I could use it and he was thrilled! And then he sent me eleven more pictures that are just as great or even better. It’s just like finding twelve pieces of art that work really well together and saying ‘It’s time to open a gallery!’ By releasing these twelve albums back to back, I am providing a gallery for these photos to be seen. I’m also super excited with all this visual inspiration!
Waves
“I’m a man on fire! I’m already halfway done with the second one and I’m excited for this sort of endurance challenge to stay inspired all year creating beautiful, timeless, instrumental music.”
1. In The Beginning (First Wave)
2. Mind Reader
3. Puzzle Peace
4. Outer Worlds
5. The Endless Coast
6. Nova
7. Beautiful Soul
8. My Favorite Feeling
9. Transcendental Medication
10. Waves At Nightfall
