Working within an intentionally open structure, Mogard and Irisarri reshaped their material in real time, in a space defined by its lack of stage that removed a barrier between performer and audience. Rotary speakers, modular synthesis and bowed guitar were routed through a vintage 1970s console, and each iteration was recorded live to multitrack to form a core of a fluid, evolving compositions.
The Berlin sessions were later reworked in Mogard’s Rome studio, where the Italian composer subjected the recordings to a process of expansion and erosion: fragments isolated, durations stretched, tempos dissolved. In his New York studio, Irisarri introduced additional layers of dense, textured drone. Cellist Martina Bertoni and violinist/vocalist Andrea Burelli contributed performances to the album that soften the divide between acoustic and electronic realms. The result is less a document of performance than a reconstruction shaped by time and process.
Visually, the album continues a thread established in the duo’s first release, Impossibly Distant, Impossibly Close, with artwork by Marja de Sanctis revisiting the same sculptural vessel. Where the earlier version appeared as raw clay, the new iteration is fired and glazed, reflecting light outward to express a shift the artist frames as both continuity and transformation, mirroring the expanded collaborative framework.
The duo’s work has often been characterised by a tension between restraint and magnitude, and that balance appears to deepen here, with Irisarri reflecting on the sessions as a moment where individual control receded and the music began to behave like an autonomous system. The album marks a refinement from fragile interplay toward something more permanent, diffuse and collective.
Listen/buy the album: https://linktr.ee/WhereLightPauses
Watch video for first single “In the Eastern Wild”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRSBkvuNPD0
Solo, Duo & Ensemble Performances for Spring 2026:
23 Apr, La Gaîté Lyrique, Paris, FR (AM + RAI)
29 April, Miceli Festival, Barcelona, ES (AM Solo)
1 May, Lev Festival, Gijón, ES (AM Solo)
4 May, Dig That Treasure! Festival, London, UK (AM + RAI)
6 May, Morphine Raum, Berlin, DE (AM + RAI + Ensemble)
7 May, Morphine Raum, Berlin, DE (AM + RAI Ensemble) *Sold Out
8 May, Morphine Raum, Berlin, DE (AM + RAI + Ensemble) *Sold Out
14 May, Dabadaba, San Sebastián-Donostia, ES (RAI Solo)
30 May, Concerto Su Invito, San Vi, IT (AM + RAI)
Ensemble performance is with Martina Bertoni & Andrea Burelli