TIp! "This tape was the very first idea I had when considering starting the label. Actually, it may have even be the other way around: the possibility of recording and releasing the first Tom Chant solo album acted as the catalyst for Hera Corp. My main concept behind the label was as simple as "release the music you want to listen to”, and I've listened to and played with Tom so many countless times that I didn't need to think twice.
It's difficult for me to point to a specific lineage or style to contextualise Tom's language and approach to the solo saxophone, since I have always seen him as kind of isolated (probably consciously so) from certain trends, and extremely impervious to influence. But I can try to give certain hints or general ideas, probably equally wrong: Tom's solos don't go anywhere, don’t develop in a generative manner or accumulate into something bigger that their parts. There's always more schizogenesis than motivic or technical development; gestures, repeated again and again, keep splitting and breaking into subtly diverse versions of the initial movement, avoiding any kind of build or dramatic interaction.
There is an obvious and deep beauty in his playing, but never emotionality or sentimentalism. In stark contrast with the usual technical heroics and epics, there is a deep embracing of physical decay and the failure and imperfection of it's execution. This is not a catalogue of sounds or techniques, nor is it a showcase of (usually misunderstood) "innovation". Like in a Pinter play, sounds are "just there", staring at you; better just take them as they are. They will stop when they are tired, or bored." - Àlex Reviriego
Recorded at La Isla by Pablo Miranda
Mixed and mastered by Pablo Miranda
Artwork by Tània Gumbau
Produced by Àlex Reviriego