Rafael Anton Irisarri

Rafael Anton Irisarri
Rafael Anton Irisarri at Discovery Park, April 2010
Background information
Origin	United States
Genres	Post-minimalism Drone 20th-century classical music Contemporary classical music
Occupation(s)	Composer, Producer, Multi-instrumentalist
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Room40, Ghostly International, Miasmah, Immune, Touch
Associated acts	The Sight Below Biosphere Benoit Pioulard ORCAS Simon Scott Pantha Du Prince TNAF School of Seven Bells Tiny Vipers
Website	irisarri.org

Rafael Anton Irisarri is an American composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and media artist based in Seattle, Washington. He is predominantly associated with post-minimalist, drone and electronic music, exploring textural aesthetics for over half a decade. His pointillist compositions lean towards ostinato motifs that tap into minimalist ideals while his studio production style is characterized by dense layers of reverb and delay, suggesting a blurred cinematic quality, like half-remembered dreams full of elegiac beauty. Bowed guitar textures, deep pulsing bass tones, field recordings, submerged piano notes, melancholic strings and subtle electronic counterpoints all contribute and converge equally in his music to create an oceanic experience that contrasts the epic and subdued, "like an ambient symphony recording that’s been rescued from attic entombment after half a century.”

His compositions were once described by The Wire contributing writer Jefferson Petrey as "a dual perspective close-up focus on the micro textures of rustling static-filled sonic surfaces with the wide-open distant tree lined horizons of sunset at dusk."Popmatters depicted his music as “sensual, propulsive, and shrouded in mercurial darkness” while Drowned In Sound chronicled “his ear for a soul-crushing melody continues to shine through the album’s dense caverns of reverb.” Chris Brosman from online tastemaker Pitchfork Media referred to his production work as “a beautifully bleak cloud of sound”., while music journalist Patric Fallon praised his compositions as "dense, panoramic soundscapes."