Been waiting a while for some new music from Mauro Remiddi (a.k.a. Porcelain Raft)? So have we, but it looks like the wait is over, with the impending arrival of his Half Awake EP on June 2, 2015.
It’s the first Porcelain Raft release to be issued via Remiddi’s own Volcanic Field imprint, but faithful fans needn’t fear a drastic change in approach, at least not as far as we can tell from listening to “All in My Head,” which is now available for streaming. From the sound of things, the kind of moody, subtly melancholy synth-pop that made Porcelain Raft popular to begin with is still in force on the new EP.
Remiddi has taken some intriguing new steps in terms of the delivery of his music, though. In addition to the digital version of Half Awake, fans will also have the rather idiosyncratic option of getting the EP as a limited-edition cassette tape.
“I started recording when I was 14 years old,” he explains, “using a cassette recorder, playing piano, creating fake radio programs. Than at 18 my first proper recording device was a four-track cassette, so for me cassettes are not a novelty or a format that I just discovered. It’s always been there, I love that saturated sound, I know that hiss by heart. That hiss makes me feel at home.”
Bringing additional artistic value to the cassette package, each one will have a handmade linoleum print by Remiddi.
“I started making my own print, sculpting the linoleum bloc because I liked the feeling of creating something from nothing and have it in front of me, straight away tangible.”