RAUELSSON: "'La Siembra, la Espera y la Cosecha' to be released in the US in 180 g clear vinyl limited edition and digital 1/12 (Hush Records)!

Adopted Oregonian Raúl Pastor Medall (a.k.a. Rauelsson) has been busy over the past seasons, not only flying the North pole skies back and forth between the Pacific Northwest, where he resides currently, and the lands of his native Spain, but also working on three different projects to be published in the near future: a score for a documentary film entitled 'From River to Sea', a collaboration with his admired friend, multinstrumentalist Peter Broderick, and his first full length album, 'La Siembra, la Espera y la Cosecha' to be released in the US in 180 g clear vinyl limited edition and digital formats in January 2010 via HUSH Records.

In 'La Siembra, la Espera y la Cosecha', Rauelsson expands his inviting sense of melody and arrangement yet the organic construct of its songs remains based on his willingness to work with a simple, though evocative, palette of acoustic ingredients. Produced by Portland's finest Adam Selzer (M.Ward, The Decemberists, Mirah, Laura Gibson, Loch Lomond, etc.) and co-produced by Dave Depper and Raúl, the album presents a noble collection of eleven songs which grandeur resides primarily on their well captured subtle sensibility. With emotive, dynamic transitions between austere to rich, sombre to bright territories, the production's prevailing mission was to respect the original conception of the album: a cohesive musical and thematic observation of the fragility of life and the immenseness of love as a response to such fragility. Since nature and its untamed energy provided a lyrical and sonic motif to the majority of these tracks, an organic, earthy sound corresponded.

The core of the album was recorded at Type Foundry, Portland, OR, during the fall/winter of 08/09, with Dave Depper (Jolie Holland, Loch Lomond, Norfolk and Western, etc.) and Rachel Blumberg (M.Ward, Jolie Holland, Mirah, Norfolk and Western, etc.) as the spine of this vertebrate ensemble. Without much rehearsal or pre-production, Dave and Rachel followed their intuition and tracked most of their material live to a 2" tape machine, layering pianos, bells, bass and percussion over Raúl's figerpicked nylon and acoustic guitars. Reel-to-reel magnetic tapes awaited for Raúl's return as, back in Spain, he retreated in the Mediterranean country side to concentrate on lyrics. Surrounded by a mountainous scenario, with a small recording equipment, he tracked most of his vocal parts in ancient stone-walled houses, searching for spaces where natural reverb could propel words and sounds and integrate with the music as another instrument. Returned to Portland, Raúl worked with Adam for a couple of weeks at Type Foundry on finishing and mixing these songs. During those days, the springtime blossoms brought friends/HUSH cohorts to the studio, and they contributed with vocals (Laura Gibson, Loch Lomond's Ritchie Young), strings (Amanda Lawrence, Heather W. Broderick) and other instrumentation that spooled together into a cohesive whole. 'La Siembra, la Espera y la Cosecha' also features cameos by singer-songwriter compatriots Santi Campos and Julio de la Rosa.

Rauelsson's tone of reflective folk romanticism is also present in the evocative artwork of the album, featuring composite visuals based on fragments of a painting by nineteenth-century German landscapist Andreas Achenbach. The release of 'La Siembra, la Espera y la Cosecha' will be preceded by a free/support digital e.p. (Debutantes e.p., release date TBA) with alternative versions of some songs of the album and exclusive material not to be found elsewhere.

Tracklist:
1. Debutantes
2. El Río de los Nudos
3. La Calma
4. Cambio de Mar
5. Casi la Cosecha
6. El Desierto de las Palmas
7. Columpios
8. Palidez (un Aviso)
9. Raíces (otro Aviso)
10. Lápices sin Punta
11. Cosidos