Actual Pearls - Circle Dance (SM043)

Actual Pearls is a tumbling mass of small bytes and bits, pattern upon pattern, with variation, glitch or mutation infiltrating the sonic rubble. It is a music and performance project created by Yianni Kourmadas, stemming from their childhood obsession with creating computer music using MIDI notation software. Using obsolete hard- and soft-ware, Actual Pearls conjures a maximalist minimalism that is not in any known category.

There is a striking honesty in the space presented by Actual Pearls. Everything breathes on an individual level. Each sound a character weaving vignettes that are simultaneously melodic and sporadic. Actual Pearls takes the best parts about the "Cozy Synth" and "Dungeon Synth" trends, the pure MIDI sounds, that nostalgic computer, music and restructures them in elegant and strange ways.

"Surprising beauty that still unfolds and astounds after hundreds (thousands?) of listens. You’ll want to tap your foot, but just as you catch a beat, the gears contort: where is that snare drum, what is that bell? Will you ever hear that melody again? Sure! When you listen to the album for the third time this hour." - Andrew Keller