Impressoes de Varias Ilhas (Recordings from Macaronésia)

Description

After his previous sound impressions of Unguja and Borneo, Gonçalo F. Cardoso continues his meditative travel narrative on island life with Impressões de Várias Ilhas, published by Discrepant. This third chapter draws inspiration from time spent in three archipelagos of Macaronesia – the Azores, Cape Verde, and the Canary Islands – blending field recordings and synthesis to explore the blurred boundary between real experience and memorized sensation. Cardoso's journalistic approach captures the resonance of aquatic caves, black beaches, lagoons, and life in small towns, transformed into impressionistic vignettes that are both intimate and unreal. It is not about grand statements worthy of a postcard, but rather subtle and atmospheric sketches that never fall into sound tourism, instead evoking liminal and ephemeral states. From the gentle waves and echoing sounds of "Bufadeiros de São Vicente" – reminiscent of Black Dice during the Beaches & Canyons era – to the unsettling ambiance of "Noite em Rabo de Peixe" and the discomfort close to concrete music in "Rãs em Xoxo," Cardoso oscillates between warmth, strangeness, and nostalgia. The closing piece "Salinas de Pedra Lume" becomes a tranquil epic, filled with crackling recordings and spectral sounds, less a travel document than a haunted reflection on place, memory, and disappearance.