Marc Piñol, a staple in Barcelona’s electronic scene, has teamed up with Berlin’s Hugo Capablanca as C.P.I. for their debut album on Hivern Discs.

Alianza displays a wide range of emotions through only a few elements. There are no structures, and barely any drums. The Spanish label describes it as a “puzzling journey that moves through darkness and light, happiness and despair, hope and menace, as it unveils its own mysterious universe.”

The pair used a broad array of vocal timbres, including their own drone-treated voices, digitized vocals from an old vector synth, and those of several contributors. Most of the sounds come from digital devices, because the duo wanted to “prove themselves” in the studio by “doing something as warm as we could while trying to avoid analogue if possible.”

The major part of Alianza was recorded during the spring of 2018 in Barcelona, with further takes in Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, and Switzerland. It features contributions from Spacemen 3’s Will Carruthers, Tanja Siren, Veronica Vasicka, Anna Homler, Demetrio Martini, and Pablo Sánchez.

The album follows C.P.I.’s El Tunel / Proceso in 2015, also on John Talabot’s Hivern Discs imprint, and 2018’s Meine Hand.

To begin work on the album, the pair went back to some of the most important records in their lives and listened to them from start to finish. At a time when the whole concept of an album might be at its lowest ebb for decades, they wanted to return to the old way of telling stories, recreating the notion of a narrative “journey.”

The album was created with the support of the Richard Thomas Foundation, an organisation commissioning innovative and interesting works of contemporary performance art from the likes of Jóhann Jóhannsson and Hildur Guðnadóttir.

It’s mastered by Gordon Pohl in Dusseldorf, and the artwork is by Dominic Brucia, featuring a picture by Tanja Siren.

Tracklisting

01. Osera
02. Islaalsl
03. Rasa
04. Epileg
05. Walking and Falling (ft. Veronica Vasicka)
06. I/O
07. Templo De Agua
08. Lamento (ft. Anna Homler)
09. Sol (ft. Will Carruthers)

Alianza LP is available now on vinyl and digitally. You can order it here, and stream it below.