Matilde Meireles — Loop And Again
Loop And Again is a CD album themed around magnetic fields. It blends recordings of said fields, drone texturing, sudden pitch rising detail, and general field recordings. The three tracks featured are eventful, moody, at times atmospherically jarring- with a sound that dips in electro ambience, pressing drone texturing, and even droned out avant jazz.
Matilde Meireles has been active since the late 2019’s, with five albums to her name to date. From 2024, Loop And Again, focuses on magnetic fields, intricate wiring arrangements, and their interconnectedness with the shifts in the surrounding landscape. It’s part of X Marks the Spot, a larger project which used sound to map specific telecommunication boxes—only those emitting an audible drone—in the city of Belfast between 2013-2019.
We open with “Introducing Variables”, which is the longest track here at twenty-one minutes. It begins with a blend of subtly piercing drones & the sound of rushing water. As we move on, we get darts of bird and motorbike field recording- which are ebbed by growing & more piercing electro drone pitches- nicely breaking the initially feeling of sinister disquiet, though this does return again, though with the constant threat of sudden seared tone twists.
“Magnetic Fields” is next- this comes at just over the thirteen-minute mark. It opens with a hauntingly wavering and slow-fading in- taking in two or three mid to high drone pitches. As it grows, you can make out a more hovering & jittery hissing tone- this is added to by higher electro pulse hits. Later, we get the addition of rushing water- as the pitch hits seem to start to split & disappear( for a time).
Finally, we have just over eleven minutes of “Cross Parade with Fingal, Bronagh, Paul and Tullis”- I say this is the most interesting/ surprising of the three tracks. It begins with a woman speaking, before a blend of distant knocking & searing appears (possibly a mic up coffee machine). At around the three-minute mark, what sounds like a stretched trumpet or horn tone is added- this switches between being grainy & playful, to more droned out. All the while, this vague harmonic/ mind range drone is carried on. Towards the end, the female voice reappears, with a male voice, as the pair talks about cooking a dish.
As a release, Loop And Again often puts the listener in a state somewhere between intrigued, strangely soothed, and on the cusp of building tension. With a creative use of sound art, field recordings, and subtle instrumental detail. To find out more