San Francisco-based multi-instrumentalist Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, alongside being at the helm of the great Root Strata label and performing in acts such as Tarantel, The Alps, and The Holy See, spends his free time venturing on his own. Ledesma has many releases under his belt as Colophon and various alterations of his name including Jefre Sei Getsu Ledesma, but Love Is A Stream could be considered his second "proper" release following 2007's The Garden of Broken Paths.
Akin to Tim Hecker's Harmony In Ultraviolet, Love Is A Stream straddles both beautiful and harsh atmospheres within a single piece. Ledesma, in the case of this album, provides a more equal balance of the two. Every track showcases light, glimmering textures drenched in distortion and haze-- and while these two aspects may seem like an unlikely pairing, the noise complements the ambiance by giving it a density that couldn't have been salvaged from any other source. The opener "Stained Glass Body" has shimmering guitars overdriven by an undulating hum, and some faint, ghostly vocals shrouded by the soundscape.
Although I absolutely love the style and tone of this album's intent, the one feature preventing it from embodying the powerhouse that it should be is how understated it is, disregarding the prevalent white noise. Love Is A Stream certainly seems monolithic once it starts, but the theme is so defined that it blurs the lines that divide each of these 12 tracks-- which could be Ledesma's intent, considering that a few of these tracks swiftly transition into one another. In short, its great potential left me with the disappointing feeling that Love Is A Stream could have been a gorgeously monumental 44 minutes, but felt too content in a certain boundary to mesmerize me.
Despite the lack of contrast between its separate pieces, Love Is A Stream will certainly stimulate fans of Yellow Swans, Belong, or to a lesser extent, Noveller. Lush, ethereal and damaged, Ledesma's sophomore effort proposes a unique form of sonic texture that could engulf a room in luminescence with the turn of a volume knob. Love Is A Stream has a small set of goals, yet accomplishes every one of them.
[Jefre Cantu-Ledesma Myspace]
[Buy Love Is A Stream from Type Records]
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