Växtfolket (the origin of this word seems to be Swedish…) is a solo project of Catalan musician/sound artist Oriol Paré. Refactorització Cognitiva (Cognitive Refactoring) is the first album of the project and the first ever released work by the artist himself. The album was recorded between 2017-2018, finished in 2019 and released in 2020 by the own label of Paré.
The release of this album is the final part of the process of exploring memories through art, the act of externalization, according to the artist’s press release. Briefly, it could be described as a sonic attempt of reorganization or refactoring of personal memories, life experiences, changes by “fragmenting and erasing the partial teachings considered unnecessary or redundant”.
As for the music itself, it is a cool combination of drones, noises, micro and macro sounds, orchestral clusters, sometimes of industrial/lo-fi flavor and more… Three long tracks, 22:30 minutes long each create an impressive atmosphere of changing moods and densities – from dark and even scary, especially in the current surreal situation of the biological and humanitarian absurd around us, to rather bright and optimistic; from aggressive and over concentrated to less intensive and sometimes meditative.
At the same time, these three compositions, conceptually based on the so-called ‘mental information’ or brain data, produced by human functions and individual activities, could make you more concentrated on the sound itself, impress you with a wide variety of textures, dynamics and sonic spaces.
At the moment, the album is only available in the digital format, but there is a chance for it to be issued in a physical form. A vinyl record and may be a cassette would be a good opportunity to promote and distribute this work among people addicted to analog sound.
