Whether it be under his own name or via The Sight Below vessel, New York-based composer, Rafael Anton Irisarri, has always thrived on exposing ambient music’s darker corners. One look at the artwork to his latest release, Points of Inaccessibility, and it goes a long way into illuminating the composer’s latest story through sound. Times are dark. Everything, seemingly broken beyond repair.
Speaking in the lead-up to its release, and Irisarri spoke of Points of Inaccessibility being inspired by “how disconnection feels in an age obsessed with connection.” It’s this emotional disconnection that has seemingly formed a mirror world that splits in two. One, fact; the other, fiction. Online culture, accelerating an attention economy better known as a fairground for narcissism.
It’s this detachment that Irisarri explores to great effect, resulting in some of his most poignant moments caught within the studio walls, offering the kind of sound collages that imbue hope that could, indeed, shatter that mirror.
Rafael Anton Irisarri Interview: “There’s always something trying to break through”
Combining emotional power with heavy weather soundscapes, on Points of Inaccessibility, Irisarri shapes something exquisite and immaculately produced. The latter point is hardly surprising; his fingerprints, all over so many experimental releases via his work from behind the soundboards as an engineer.
The seeds of Points of Inaccessibility were planted via an off-chance meeting in Mexico City at MUTEK between Irisarri and Jaco Schilp in 2024. The Dutch media artist then invited Irisarri to a residency at his Utrecht-based Uncloud studio in 2025 where the spirit of Points of Inaccessibility began to emerge. And with the help of recent collaborator, Abul Morgard, Irisarri makes a majestic leap from his excellent 2024 release, FAÇADISMS.
Rafael Anton Irisarri - Points of InaccessibilityBeginning with Faded Ghosts of Clouds Searching, Irisarri unveils a rich, slow-motion moodscape that moves as elegant as a flock of birds over the ocean. It’s this sun-over-the-horizon vibe that fellow ambient touchstone Fennesz has mastered over the years, but Irisarri creates his own sound and vision, stirring up the embers through a storm of strings and synths, which are eventually parted by a metallic drone.
Once again, the drone plays a crucial role in these recordings. On the orchestral Break the Unison, the thunderclap gives the piece the kind of a weight that echoes the drama of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It’s as close to post-rock as Irisarri has ever been, and it reaches a crescendo on Signal from a Distant. Featuring vocal loops from Paris-based Australian artist, Karen Vogt, her addition gives the piece a beautiful, hymnal-like dimension.
So too Mogard’s work behind the scenes on the closing epic, Memory Strands. As synths spiral down like a voice from the heavens, Irisarri conjures up the same bruising intensity of his live performances alongside Mogard over the last couple of years (which included a stirring performance at 2024’s of Le Guess Who?).
Not to be eclipsed by the dark harmony behind these compositions, Irisarri rides the waves of emotion, and embellished by the sullenness of strings and bowed guitar, Points of Inaccessibility sees him deliver with ultimate poise. Carefully crafted and deeply considered, Irisarri finds new ways to raise the stakes, and here they feel higher than ever before.
Points of Inaccessibility is out now via Black Knoll Editions. Purchase from Bandcamp.
