Gafael: Syren CS

On Syren, Gafael’s extensive field recording archive of the waters of northern Wales are iteratively processed into hazy, extended chords. The tactility of crashing waves, trickling streams, and coursing rivers is the foundation of the album, functioning as a hermetic reflection of the physicality of littoral ecology and its emotional resonances, centered on the push/pull of danger and seduction. While the album’s title Syren alludes to Homeric mythology, it is firmly rooted in Gafael’s wanderings through the austere beauty of Welsh coastline rather than addressing any Hellenic texts directly. Similarly, while the album’s sound gestures towards ‘ambient dub techno’, its sonic atmosphere is decidedly field recording. Split into two movements, the first side of Syren, Submerge, brings us into dark, oceanic depths, echoing the working title for the album, Music for Drowning. The other side, Emerge, serves as the journey home, pulling us out of the waves and casting us onto the shore. This arc also reflects Gafael’s own history, tracing his complicated relationship with Welsh and English languages, and coming to embrace his immediate physical landscape and its history while eschewing nationalistic implications.