Sandro Perri - Soft Landing

When you mention a long-standing music producer/musician who has dabbled in almost any musical form, from raw, experimental electronics to melodic alt-pop, usually aficionados would immediately drop the name of Jim O’Rourke, I mean, the guy has done, and keeps on doing anything that has something to do with any form of modern music.

Yet, there is another name here that should be marked with red letters in that respect, and possibly with much higher positive results than even O’Rourke - Sandro Perri, Canada’s Constellation label staple producer and musician, who like O’Rourke has done almost anything that has any connection with music, and great music at that! Soft Landing, Perri’s latest album is just more proof of that and is possibly one of the best he has recorded so far in his career.

Why his name has not caught up the imagination of a wider range of listeners like O’Rourke’s did probably does not have much to do with where he came from, or any similar factor, but with the fact that for quite a long period (seven years to be exact)  Perri hasn’t been coming up with any solo releases. Then, since last year’s excellent Impossible Spaces, Soft Landing turns out to be his fourth release in succession, the other two being  under the guise of the Off World project.

But then, Soft Landing is not just another in succession of excellent Perri releases. A lot of that credit goes to the opening 16 or so minute track “Time (You Got Me)”. A continuous flow of languid slide guitar and vocals underpinned by gentle, unobtrusive electronic embellishments, that could have gone for another 16 minutes as far as I’m concerned.

The moment you start wondering how is Perri going to top this, in comes “Floriana” a jazzed-up guitar run supported by vibes, trumpet and hand percussion. With “God Blessed The Fool” he switches gears one more time and goes Soul bringing in memories of Terry Reid’s brilliant River,  and all those early Boz Scaggs albums.

Even if he stopped there, Perri would have had a classic on his hands, but the second part of the album, with a ‘standard’ Perri track that is “Back On Love” or the radio edit of “Time (Yo Got Me)” just keeps the exceedingly high standard Perri has set himself at the start. This should be somewhere at the top of the best of the year in a few months time.