JANA IRMERT - "PORTALS": Produced entirely from sounds recorded in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil and Colombia, Portals conjures up the hidden world of sounds that lies beyond our perception. Whether in ultrasonic high frequency ranges or hidden in the depths of the aquatic medium, these sounds testify to an unsuspected and pulsating animal activity. Insects, frogs, bats, and freshwater dolphins move, hiding from our eyes and ears. By revealing this sonic palette, particularly through transposition, and returning it to the realm of the audible, Jana Irmert invites us to a fascinating exploration of an unsuspected, speculative, and non-human sound world, which she discloses and recomposes in a respectful and personal way, accompanying this teeming and fascinating sound material with a musical gesture of great clarity. Portals is an attempt to access the evocative power of an Amazon forest on the brink of catastrophe. 7038634357 -`ROPE': With unusual mastery and precision, Rope unfolds in a suspended time that nevertheless appears ominous. As the title suggests, Rope explores the formal figure of the rope as an interweaving of synthetic and natural fibers that hold and fuse, bound together by the forces of tension and friction. The rope itself, as Neo Gibson explains, is knotted at regular intervals along its entire length so that one can hold on to it. Rope slowly unfolds, evolving from the threshold of the perceptible to denser, ballasted electronic textures, always, however, on the verge of impending upheaval. Then a melodic motif emerges that seems to carry an impossible consolation. In this respect, Rope impressively balances formal elegance, sonic gravity, and an almost incomprehensible emotional charge.