Tristan Arp - a pool, a portal

Tristan Arp returns to Wisdom Teeth with
his sophomore LP: ‘a pool, a portal’ - a vast, multi-dimensional record of pin-drop rhythms, hushed vocals and swirling ambience that
maps out a vivid limbic space between the natural and the digital worlds. The LP began life while Tristan was still living in Mexico City,
and was subsequently finished in New York. Carrying on from where his acclaimed debut ‘Sculpturegardening’ left off, the record
marries hallucinatory modular synths with cello, found sound and spoken word, creating a rich sonic world in which machines mimic
nature and acoustic instruments merge with their digital counterparts. Across the record’s narrative arc, listeners are invited to imagine
a future world in which nature and machines collaborate to rewild and search for new modes of being. Far from apocalyptic, the artist’s
vision is yearning and hopeful - a reflection on how we might evolve to overcome our very human limitations. “Hopefully we can all
open a little portal into another world and integrate what we learn into our own”, Tristan offers. True to his word, Tristan shared much of
the creative process with his machines, using modular generative processes to create randomised, improvisatory moments that he
could collaborate on as artist and observer. Most of the tracks were captured in single takes as live performances and improvisations
that were subsequently edited and cut down. Speaking of ‘Life After Humans’ - the record’s beguiling 10-minute centrepiece - Tristan
recalls: “I neglected to record multi-track outs, but it was actually super empowering to be left with just a stereo track: I couldn’t mix
individual elements even if I wanted to after the recording, but I’m happy I inadvertently limited myself in that way.” Alongside his own
voice, the record features a stunning appearance from fast-rising Guatemalan cellist and vocalist, Mabe Fratti. The pair met in Mexico
City in 2020, where she helped Tristan to learn cello - an encounter that ultimately went on to inform the recordings that made up
‘Sculpturegardening’. Her appearance on ‘a pool, a portal’ marks a full-circle moment in their creative relationship. The album’s artwork
features photography by Zhang An - a photographer based in Nanjing, China. Despite their appearances, these are unmanipulated
photos of real-world ice formations. As is the case throughout ‘a pool, a portal’, the lines between the natural and the artificial are
playfully indistinct.