Porcelain Raft – “All In My Head” (Stereogum Premiere)
For his latest trick, Porcelain Raft mastermind Mauro Remiddi is issuing a new EP on a brand new label of his own. Remiddi’s Half Awake EP will be released digitally and on cassette via Volcanic Field, which Remiddi calls ” a house for all my music and ideas.” Here’s his statement about the endeavor:
Volcanic Field is born from the need to create a house for all my music and ideas. A sort of archive, a diary of my work in progress, for the sake to tell the story and tell it all.
I started recording when I was 14 years old, using a cassette recorder, playing piano, creating fake radio programs. Than at 18 my first proper recording device was a 4 track cassette, so for me cassettes are not a novelty or a format that I just discovered. It’s always been there, I love that saturated sound, I know that hiss by heart. That hiss makes me feel at home.
I started making my own print, sculpting the linoleum bloc because I liked the feeling of creating something from nothing and have it in front of me, straight away tangible. Music somehow is way more abstract, you compose, than record, than wait to be a physical thing, it takes months. With the print, to see it in front of you, it take few hours.
I’ve been recording a lot of music in the past two years, songs and also instrumental abstract stuff. This EP is only the tip of the iceberg and it feels very good to finally release it and share it, I cannot wait to play this songs live.
Lead single “All In My Head” is a falsetto-laden synthpop jam with a steady electronic pulse, topped off with soaring keyboard lines and a guitar solo that bends and shimmers. Hear it below.
The EP comes with a one-of-a-kind linoleum print made by Remiddi in his new home studio in LA. Here’s a peek at those:
Remiddi is taking Porcelain Raft out on tour this summer in support of the EP:
06/22 Washington, DC @ DC9
06/23 Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
06/25 Cambridge, MA @ T.T. The Bears
06/26 Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right
07/06 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
07/07 Seattle, WA @ Barboza
07/09 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
07/11 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
Half Awake is out 6/2 on Volcanic Field. Pre-order it at Bandcamp.
[Mauro Remiddi photo by Malia James.]