Refectori - Natura Morta

From Barcelona, Spain comes Refectori. This is another one of those acts where not too much information is available about them on the internet; they do say that they were founded in 1913 on Facebook, but I am more than sure that that is inaccurate and they are only goofing around. However, this industrial and experimental artist has just released a new cassette tape via Bestiarie, and that's what I will be discussing this very moment. 

Natura Morta is a five track EP released in cassette format that spans somewhere around a half hour. The sound present on the album is minimal, a bit noisy, reverbing, and has steady, clockwork like beats flowing through it. The first song 'Corba Praxitel·liana' borders the edge of experimental IDM; like the pulse of a lifeline machine, the song worked its way into your soul. 


I was less than enthusiastic with the standard drone sound that was in the first minute of 'Panteix Agònic', but the rest of the track was brilliant,slamming noise. Not completely destructive or so compressed that it would erupt basic speakers, but the sound was clean and powerful. Again, I could not get away from feeling as if the song sounded like someone's heartbeat. 

'Caça de l'Home' was another track that followed in similar steps to the previous tracks, but added in light but distorted whispering, like the kind you would find in witch house tracks. 'Mà' had a very, very spooky sound to it; the waves of electronic pulses sounded like a ghost's cry for help. The last and title track for the album, 'Natura Morta', was the only track on the album that I didn't appreciate. What had made this album special in all forms was the rhythmic noise influences and general experimental sound; Refectori traded all that out for an alright sounding dark ambient track that did not really live up to the rest of the other songs. 

That being said, Refectori still managed to crank out four very, very well done songs. The minimal beats experimented enough to go through the works of IDM, rhythmic noise, and general looping mechanisms and the like. If Bestiarie can get more artists like this on their hands, I think they'd do better. 
Mar 13 2016