Luís Lopes - Love Song: Post Ruins

2019 CD release.

Here is the second opus of Luís Lopes’ project Love Song, the opposite of his (also) solo investigations of extreme guitar noise. The title, “Post-Ruins”, follows the idea that it’s always possible to love again and again. Because of that, «love, or that mysterious force we call love, can’t be measured in seconds, days or years». The Lisbon musician wanted to create «a sort of harmonic infinity», with the performance of the music functioning like a sound installation, «occupying the space like a sculpture, without temporality or any feeling of sequency». The piece is entirely written, with the exception of an improvised part in-between, but even that one rotating around a fixed tonality.

All the notes, intervals and chords were chosen with the purpose to transmit a perception of stagnation, of marasmus – «or of a wandering through marasmus», says Lopes – , transmitting the sensation of a stop in time. An eternalized moment, full of emotions, necessarily limited by the musical performance, but infinite «in itself». Everything sounds as a suspended cadence, very slow and melancholic. This beautiful, enigmatic edition has complementary contributions by the photographer André Cepeda, his images also giving a sensation of unreality and sadness.