Gabriel Ferrandini - Hair Of The Dog LP

Label: Canto

Edition of 200. Small bumped corner on jacket; otherwise solid.

"Gabe and I first met 8 years ago in Lisbon when I was living there temporarily, and since that time he has been a dear brother, a teacher, and the most reliable travel companion on this music journey we embarked on. The closest analogy I can think of for this music would be mountain climbing. During an expedition, tensions are high, with each individual dealing with their fears and insecurities, while organizing group dynamics as personalities clash and butt heads with one another. But most importantly, the current challenge and task at hand: How to conquer the present mountain we have set our eyes on. In this realm, you play like how you live. Each individual carries within them their own baggage of the past, along with their dreams and projections. We play this music like how we talk, how we love, how we hate, and live. Some people are leaders, some are passive aggressive types, some are always waiting for others, some are constructive team players, some are self destructive; how we are in real life somehow gets utterly exposed during these expeditions.

"Most of the time things don't make much sense at all, because performing this kind of music requires a certain amount of self understanding and mental/physical/emotional strength conditioning. The most horrific traumas and the most beautiful dreams are interwoven in this realm. We time travel emotionally, going face to face with aspects of ourselves that were buried, we get lost, we ignore others, sometimes you feel abandoned by your bandmates, we hear voices from our EGO and SHADOW. It is a STORM within this treacherous terrain. We are alone because we are all trapped in our individual realities. You can say that we are 'alone together' in these expeditions.

"But each time as I plunge into the depths of Inferno or Purgatories of my mind, I can always hear Gabe. When I'm lost amidst the blizzard, he is there extending his hand pulling me up. When the storm and confusion clears, as we arrive at those passing moments of freedom in Paradise, he is also there, laughing and joking as we take in the view of the ever fleeting moments in this music. We then descend and return back to where we started, only to find another mountain at the next present moment. There are endless mountains to climb in one's lifetime. In essence, this solo record is Gabe's solo expedition of his inner psycho-geographical landscape. Unlike group expeditions, there is no one there to lend a hand when you are tired, there is no one there to guide you when you get lost, there is no one there to share the joy of newly discovered terrains, you are there alone and carry on. Sometimes, people don't make it back with stories to tell on these expeditions, they get lost or stuck there for a while... I am happy to hear from Gabe upon his return and hear the adventures he went on in this album, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did." - Alex Zhang Hungtai, Los Angeles, May 2021