FERNANDO PERDOMO – Waves

Fernando Perdomo 2024

FERNANDO PERDOMO –
Waves

The auspicious beginnings of one musician’s year-long fascination with ebb and tide.

There are many reasons to respect, if not admire, Fernando Perdomo who manages to be prolific as a composer and generous as a player, both in the studio and on stage, and yet it wouldn’t be difficult to suggest the guitarist has painted his imagination into a corner by embarking on the “Waves” project. Still, while "Out To Sea 4" seemed to bring Perdomo’s marine endeavors to a close, Fern’s associations with ocean shores are apparently too far from being over and, inspired by his friend Joe Galdo’s photos, this restless spirit decided to dedicate an entire year, without cancelling other commitments, to the instrumental paean to the rising and the falling of water. An ambitious undertaking but, judging by the first of twelve installments in the series, one the American adventurer is able to shoulder.

Sure, the exposition-setting, expectancy-sculpting “In The Beginning (First Wave)” that opens the album with almost new-age-like panorama might be just what the listener should anticipate from this sort of record, yet once Perdomo’s richly toned six strings spread their wings to soar above the faux-orchestral landscape, where riffs and links hint at flamenco, a few different perspectives float into aural view. And although “Mind Reader” offers an equally prospective surf surface in its twangy command of steady groove and cosmic dynamic, “Puzzle Peace” rolls a slider across a percussive landscape to increase its stylistic scope and engage in a funky dance before “Outer Worlds” welcomes finely filigreed, acoustically tinctured balladry into the fold. “The Endless Coast” may only strengthen such a progressive (rock) movement, but “Nova” playfully demonstrates comes country licks to expand the melodic cycle’s horizon and use a snippet of spoken word to widen the audience’s smiles, and “Beautiful Soul” jives gracefully into the harmonies-filled sunset.

Once there, the barely-there “My Favorite Feeling” explores the wonders of serenity which will be shattered rather soon, when “Transcendental Medication” begins its elegant gallop towards Latino-flavored heavens that the pensive “Waves At Nightfall” colors in immense sadness – and eventually hope, too. And here’s the gist of it all: the results of Fernando Perdomo’s new project feel intriguing and jubilant in equal measure.

****1/2

January 31, 2025

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