Diego Herrera's output isn't connected by a genre so much as a mood. Under the name Suzanne Kraft, he's probably best known for slow-mo house productions. But he proved himself equally skilled with ambient music on Missum, a six-tracker of foggy synth meanderings. The drums were gone, but the feeling of blissful repose remained.
Talk From Home marks Herrera's return to ambient, though he's tweaked the style once again. The dense sprawl of Missum has been cut back for a collection of simple, lilting synth ballads. Appearing on Melody as Truth, the LP's closest relative might be the Balearic-tinged solo work by label owner Jonny Nash, or the gemlike ambient etudes of his Gaussian Curve trio. The title of the opener, "Two Chord Wake," nicely sums up Herrera's particular take on this sound: its innocuous shuffle and chime melodies would serve as the gentlest of wake-up calls.
Throughout the album, drums provide light embellishment, keeping time beneath artful synth loops and gently wailing guitars. Some tracks, like the wonderful "Talk From Home," closely mirror Gaussian Curve's aqueous sound. Others could be soul slow jams cut loose from their vocals: Herrera's synth caresses are joined by a few breathy moans on "Never Heated" while "Renee Sleeping" entwines slinky guitar licks.
Talk From Home is simple in construction, but the balance Herrera strikes—between aimlessness and precision—is a delicate one. Occasionally he wobbles, as on "Flatiron," whose guitar noodling is a little too scrappy. But mostly he keeps his poise, and the album's tone darkens as it progresses. "Male Intuition" is a gorgeous guitar solo wandering through a large, gloomy space; "The Result" feels like one of Herrera's chord loops stretched and smeared into an ambrosial cloud. Much of Herrera’s music is defined by its bright, easygoing nature, but these tracks hint at the other strings to his bow.
Talk From Home marks Herrera's return to ambient, though he's tweaked the style once again. The dense sprawl of Missum has been cut back for a collection of simple, lilting synth ballads. Appearing on Melody as Truth, the LP's closest relative might be the Balearic-tinged solo work by label owner Jonny Nash, or the gemlike ambient etudes of his Gaussian Curve trio. The title of the opener, "Two Chord Wake," nicely sums up Herrera's particular take on this sound: its innocuous shuffle and chime melodies would serve as the gentlest of wake-up calls.
Throughout the album, drums provide light embellishment, keeping time beneath artful synth loops and gently wailing guitars. Some tracks, like the wonderful "Talk From Home," closely mirror Gaussian Curve's aqueous sound. Others could be soul slow jams cut loose from their vocals: Herrera's synth caresses are joined by a few breathy moans on "Never Heated" while "Renee Sleeping" entwines slinky guitar licks.
Talk From Home is simple in construction, but the balance Herrera strikes—between aimlessness and precision—is a delicate one. Occasionally he wobbles, as on "Flatiron," whose guitar noodling is a little too scrappy. But mostly he keeps his poise, and the album's tone darkens as it progresses. "Male Intuition" is a gorgeous guitar solo wandering through a large, gloomy space; "The Result" feels like one of Herrera's chord loops stretched and smeared into an ambrosial cloud. Much of Herrera’s music is defined by its bright, easygoing nature, but these tracks hint at the other strings to his bow.
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Published /
Fri / 24 Jul 2015 -
Words /
Angus Finlayson -
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Tracklist /
01. Two Chord Wake
02. Never Heated
03. Flatiron
04. Renee Sleeping
05. Talk From Home
06. Male Intuition
07. The Result
Berlin
Oslo
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