Once in a while I receive an unsigned demo that blows away the commercial steam, and gives me hope that music will keep breathing, no matter how strong the industry's chain-hold is hanging around its neck. The Refractors are Joseph and Kayline Martinez of Pacifica California, who turn running colors, abandoned sounds, and loose threads back into art. The sixteen minute All Colors Run EP is a collection of vignettes and gentle sketches feeding analog instruments and field recordings into cold machines. The sound is described by the artists as "vegetation coming up through the cracks of man-made structures." On this Sunday morning, the music of soft crackles, waking lap steel guitar, and wobbling strums of piano with reverse reverb, is a great breakfast for my sleepy mind. The last track on the EP, I Shutter To Think, is composed of oil refinery sounds and the camera shutter of a 1940's Leica. I am really excited about The Refractors' first full length album, Eight Year Sleep, which is still in the works and is due out sometime in 2008. All Colors Run EP is available as a digital download from iTunes, Amazon, eMusic and other digital outlets. Highly recommended for the likes of Deaf Center, Elegi, and Porn Sword Tobacco.
Two and a Half Questions With The Refractors
What is the most interesting sound that you have sampled or worked with?
Recently it would be water receding from a rock bed.
How does the atmosphere of your music shape your daily life, and vice versa?
Regardless of the artist's medium, music has been at one time or another a contributing factor to ideas.
So... Analog or Digital?
Some legitimately mourn the loss of musicians that play analog instruments and record to tape. We think analog and digital sound can have a symbiotic relationship. Utilizing both has proven to be rewarding for us. The way people listen to music is changing. A growing number can't even discern the audio quality of an MP3. The CD is now being talked about in the past tense. To our ears, nothing has been able to replace the warmth of a vinyl record. Our admission is not based on sound proof, it is only a longing for the past and an appreciation for all things analog.
myspace.com/therefractors
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