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Mnemosyne

by The Phonometrician

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $3 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Normal retail price: $17
    • Glass mastered matte finished CD
    • Bandcamp digital download code (320MP3, FLAC, WAV, etc.)
    • Housed in a vertical A5 (148mm x 210mm) size hard cover book
    • 8 full color pages of artwork by João Ruas
    • Hand-numbered and limited to 200 editions
    ------------------------------------------------
    SHIPPING COST UPDATE:
    NON-US Customers interested in ordering multiple items, please email us directly at info(at)losttribesound(dot)com and ask for custom shipping quote. Should save a lot on shipping

    Includes unlimited streaming of Mnemosyne via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    edition of 200 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Normal Retail $22
    • 180 Gram Audiophile Grade Vinyl
    • Heavyweight Reverse Print Jacket
    • Hand Numbered Edition of 200
    • Bandcamp DL Coupon for Mnemosyne
    • Lacquer Cut by Gotta Groove
    • Mastered for vinyl by James Plotkin
    • Vinyl sleeved in interior white poly-lined sleeve
    ------------------------------------------------
    SHIPPING COST UPDATE:
    NON-US Customers interested in ordering multiple items, please email us directly at info(at)losttribesound(dot)com and ask for custom shipping quote. Should save a lot on shipping

    Includes unlimited streaming of Mnemosyne via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    edition of 200  17 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7 USD or more 

     

1.
2.
Golden River 03:23
3.
4.
5.
6.
Chloe 03:36 video
7.
8.
The Run 03:43
9.
Lights Off 03:03
10.
11.

about

‘Mnemosyne’ is the debut album from Mexico City based multi-instrumentalist, film composer and sound preservationist Carlos Morales, who creates under the name The Phonometrician.

‘Mnemosyne’ is an album that asks what memories would sound like if they were captured through sound. At its core, ‘Mnemosyne’ is album built around finger-picked acoustic guitar, somewhat classical or folk styled in nature, yet it’s much more than that. Morales deploys a very specific palette of instrumentation to realize his musical vision, it’s as if the classical guitar is slowly being worn away and devoured by an onslaught of looping, ever-shifting analog sound creatures, scattering for cover when the light hits them directly, continuously eating away at the strings. Much like rifling through the pages of an aged and tattered diary, warm shuffles of vinyl and airy waves tape saturation emerge only to retreat once more into the darker recesses, leaving the psyche grasping wildly to recall the meaning of their existence.

‘Mnemosyne’ is further enriched by the hum of mechanical elements in the distance, disconcerting at times, yet at others strangely comforting, like the sound your grandparent’s heater use to make when it fired up. In addition, driving wooden stomps and immense sunken basslines propel the form of these weary recollections further forward. Haunting cellos rise from the grey matter, carrying with them a life time of exaggerated deeds, faded lovers, and the fleeting remains of those lost to completion. Metaphor here seems more precise than lazily dishing out genres or musical styles, as much like memories ‘Mnemosyne’ runs the gambit of emotions. Songs like “Chloe” or “Poppy Meadows” provide warmth, more in the way of Americana or chamber folk, whereas “The Run” or “Here Comes the Storm” pulls the guitar in a more classical or Latin direction. Then, the more experimental blends of electro-acoustics and rhythm enter in with songs like “The Curse” or “If I Died Tonight.”

As Mnemosyne is the Greek goddess of memory and remembrance, LTS figured there’s no other visuals that could compare to those of Brazilian artist and illustrator João Ruas. Having worked with Ruas on a number album artworks including William Ryan Fritch’s ‘Revisionist’, ‘Leave Me Like You Found Me’ and ‘Emptied Animal,’ we were well aware of the brilliant blend of modern art with mythology and lore that Ruas incorporates in to his art. ‘Mneomosyne’ will be available in two stunning physical formats. Firstly, the CD arrives in a lush A5 size hard cover book featuring 8 full color pages of artwork by João Ruas. Secondly, the album was pressed to 180gm audiophile vinyl using the lacquer cut method. The vinyl comes housed in a beautifully textured, reverse print sleeve, featuring an alternate version of the cover artwork from the CD edition. Each comes hand-numbered, and limited to 200 editions in each format for the world, with no repressings or second editions.

All in all, whether ’Mnemosyne’ achieves its goal of providing an aural translation of memories or not, it’s a fascinating album that’s sure to make its way into hearts and minds. Giving shape to memory, perhaps the most evasive of human traits is no easy task, and one so personal that perhaps in the end Morales may be the only one with the full understanding of these compositions. Yet, we believe he’s created something highly relatable and unendingly captivating with ‘Mnemosyne,’ that will be hard to forget, even with the illusive and ever-morphing nature of memories.

credits

released May 31, 2019

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Originally released on Lost Tribe Sound. See Catalog: losttribesound.bandcamp.com
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"BEST AMBIENT OF 2019" - LOW LIGHT MIXES

"BEST VINYL OF 2019" - OPTIC ECHO

THE YEAR'S BEST ALBUM COVERS / THE YEAR'S BEST PACKAGING - "Memory is a tricky thing, replacing itself like cells in the body, never in fixed form, frequently wrong, often abraded and eventually dissolved. The guitar becomes the truth, the strings and other organic instruments the perspective, the electronics the ravages of time." - (Richard Allen) A CLOSER LISTEN

2019 IN REVIEW FAVS: ELECTROACOUSTIC & EXPERIMENTAL FOLK - "Morales is a musical storyteller and sonic cinematographer, and you can rest assured there are many such captivating moments in store throughout this beautifully crafted album." - (Brian Housman) STATIONARY TRAVELS

THE 7 BEST MUSIC PACKAGE DESIGNS OF 2019 - TREND & CHAOS

FAVORITES OF 2019 / ALBUM OF THE WEEK - "The resulting peculiar formula impresses with its evocative effectiveness and ability to intersect sound and conceptual planes, between the crystalline melodies of a vividly present picking and the fine atmospheric grain makes the memory fuzzy, synthesized in a disc of throbbing electro-acoustic meditations." (Translated from Italian) - MUSIC WON'T SAVE YOU

FAV OF 2019: Music For Capricious Souls Adrift In Noir-fi - "Glimpses of memories, an eating dog, a burning candle, a long car journey, a life depicted in a flash. – with music the emotion takes a turn, and suddenly a sadness for lost moments, however alien, however not my own, imbues and saturates all atoms of my being." - HEADPHONE COMMUTE

"You should think of a dream joint venture between Encre, Vieo Abiungo, David Darling, Hauschka, Gareth Dickson, Nick Drake and Jozef Van Wissem . An album, again beautifully designed, that you will remember in every way." - (Jan Willem Broek) DE SUBJECTIVISTEN

8/10 STARS - "Morales has created an intriguing, fully realised, frightening, and genuinely beautiful piece of art." - (Will) NORMAN RECORDS

"Engrossing and beautifully constructed" - (Peter Hollo) UTILITY FOG

"The organic feel mixed with electronic and experimental touches and then viewed through a cinematic prism, clearly shows that The Phonometrician is another name to keep an eye and ear out for" - DRIFTING, ALMOST FALLING

"The primal, dark folk of the Phonometrician unveils a story damaged by the failings of memory, where moments of flutter and uncertainty give way to the peaks of intensity of the most lively recollections. Superb" - (Translated from French)(Rabbit) INDIE ROCK MAG

"Un intenso sogno ad occhi aperti da vivere fino in fondo." - SOWHAT

"Memories are as unique as fingerprints, but even with the personal nature, Morales is able to feed something of their essence into his guitar…searching the inner motherboard for a specific moment – sunny, yes, but sunshine of long ago, and the darkness isn’t so much malevolent as it is melancholic, longing for a return that can never happen. Perhaps that’s where the darkness came from. Whatever it is or whatever its origin, Mnemosyne lingers long in the memory." - (James Catchpole) FLUID RADIO
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Written and arranged by Carlos Morales
Recorded at Cactus Studios
Artwork by João Ruas (joaoruas.com)
Layout and design by Ryan Keane
Mastered by James Plotkin
© Carlos Morales / Lost Tribe Sound LLC
℗ Settled Scores LLC (ASCAP) 2019

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The Phonometrician Los Angeles, California

The Phonometrician is the music of composer Carlos Morales.
Sonic stories and atmospheres with acoustic guitar, synths, percussion and tapes.

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