Celer — Capri

Originally released in 2009, Capri features the prolific act when it was a duo, before Danielle Baquet-Long tragically passed later that year. Light drones create ambient vignettes of nature's ephemeral moments, what we take in daily, not realizing that their impermanence forms the solid foundations of our being. Much of the original material was left off of the 2009 CD release, but Two Acorns and Stephan Mathiew have remastered and released the entirety of the original tapes, expanding this to its complete 2xLP/2CD glory. On the surface, the thirty-six tracks may seem daunting, but their brevity and transience linger on in the background of one's mind, subtly processing subconsciously, getting the body and soul ready for Capri's inevitable next playthrough.

Capri feels like a fog, slowly rolling in, loosely shrouding all, but never inhibiting motion or affecting the structures around. Like the impermanence at the center of the album, these periods of experience and interaction are fleeting, like the fog, but somehow their brevity can build moments that will last lifetimes. A perfect summer sunset, while a quick occurrence, can stick with the viewer forever or inspire a poem that can last beyond the viewer's years. These experiences become something entirely new inside the mind, free from the physicality of the world, and take on a bigger, more permanent place in the viewer's world. Capri does this with sound, sofly moving, covering, retreating, and floating by, its soft drones moving from piece to piece effortlessly, like fog, a cloud, or like a sheet of lace slowly pulled by a lover. Filling space but still full of space, there is a transparency allowing mental imagery to form within, giving the listener a glimpse into their own recollection. What images do these pieces conjure? How do they make you feel? Like Plato's cave, it's not the vision/experience itself that stirs in our minds, but the form of the vision/experience as a memory. Changed from a physical occurrence to an electrical construct in the mind, these are prone to distortion over time, and depending on its base, a change in feeling. A beautiful sunset that was inspirational may be shifted to disdain if it were viewed with an ex-lover, or the scent of the beach as the waves crash may be a bad reminder of getting sick as life goes along. None of this is expressed by Celer, but the ethereal quality of the ambient drones that swirl on Capri gives the listener more than enough time to hear, experience, and internalize what is coming through the speakers.

Seventeen years is an interesting point for a reissue, but given the material, one understands that time is relative, so why worry about a specific period. The main thing here is that Capri is given a deluxe edition, allowing Celer's wonderful work to be even further appreciated, and hopefully hitting an even bigger audience. Available on 3XLP, 2CD, or digitally, one can experience Capri in a number of ways, allowing the soft ambience to take hold wherever and however the listener sees fit.