The Science of Breath

The Science of Breathing, the darkly aquatic debut full-length from Sandro Perri, seams together four of the Toronto producer's previously released tracks with a few brief ambient interludes. The previously released tracks — "Oarca," "Acqua," "Rottura," and "Riva" — stand out among the ambient interludes because of both their epic lengths and liveliness. Perri had released these tracks as 12" EPs on his own Audi Sensa label and gave each unique character. For instance, "Oarca" consists of hazy ambience layered airily atop faint droning feedback; "Rottura" slips a slow, chiming guitar melody beneath similar layers of ambience; and both "Acqua" and "Riva" couple similar ambience with driving dub basslines. Despite the unique character of these standout tracks, an underlying foundation of murky ambience hovers nebulously throughout all eight on The Science of Breathing. This omnipresent opaqueness is somewhat unsettling despite its ambient nature and becomes most evident during the quiet transitional interludes: "High Breathing," "Mid Breathing," "Low Breathing," and "Complete Breath." The breathing motif makes the album's opaqueness even further evident, particularly since it is coupled with a haunting black-and-white underwater photo inside the album's packaging. Perri is obviously more than just a talented producer; he's also a visionary capable of synthesizing music with rhetoric and images in such a way that the music becomes enriched, in this case, taking on a darkly aquatic nature. It's beautiful music executed masterfully by a promising talent who is just beginning his career.