FERNANDO PERDOMO: Self

Singer/songwriter, Fernando Perdomo, makes no bones about his latest album drop, Self, as he describes that “it’s not just an album, it is a definition of who I am.” The self-produced seven-track original tunes offering has Perdomo doing it all, from engineering to dialing up all the instrument sounds that accompany his lead vocals and multiple layers of vocal harmonies. Recorded at Forward Motion Studios, the project was mixed and mastered by Zach Ziskin.

The opening track, “Searching for Myself,” has the earmark of a radio-friendly single in a Lennon/McCartney mold that immediately introduces us to Perdomo’s self introspection. “Have you seen this man, he had his life together…but he lost his way…he looks a lot like me,” followed by the effortless rolling fingerpicking acoustic guitar accompaniment on “Everything Leads to Now.” “I’ve made a lot of mistakes…it all leads to now.”

Perdomo takes a positive outlook on the rocker, “Optimistic Prime.” “I’m gonna live my life my way…I can feel the fires burning,” followed by the tender ballad “Absolute Silence.” “If dreams are all we have, sleeping is all I’ll do, just to be with you.”

The funky groove on “Who I Really Am” cooks amid funky bass lines and syncopated rhythms, with banks of cascading vocal harmonies reminiscent of the Association, with a repeating eight-bar interlude that features burning electric guitar licks.

The instrumental 6/8-time composition, “All of Us Under the Same Moon,” hits the mark with beautifully arranged layers of polytonal guitar melodies arranged against rich chord voicings, which serve as a bookmark between the abundant vocal arrangements on the tracks before and after.

The title track, “Self,” concludes the seven-track journey that reiterates the main theme throughout, understanding one’s self. Perdomo takes us on a nearly 20-minute dreamlike symphonic trip through shifting vocal choruses intertwined with interludes of spoken words with one in particular, “losing one’s self…finding one’s self,” as a final self-enlightenment. The two lengthy series of lilting accompanying chord progressions could have been much shorter to get the point across, but the one-minute interlude of dissonant instrumental chaos à la Edgard Varese and the climaxing three-minute driving electric guitar riffs and tasty solo was worth the wait, bringing the curtain down with a big tip of the cap to Perdomo on a well thought-out and successful project on myriad musical levels.