BILL ORCUTT x MABE FRATTI - Almost Waking - CD [MAY 22]

CD

Mabe Fratti is a Guatemalan cellist, vocalist, and composer based in Mexico City, celebrated for her experimental yet deeply melodic work. Blending cello, voice, synthesizers, and electroacoustic textures, she builds songs that move between improvisation, ambient soundscapes, and off-kilter pop forms. Emerging from Mexico City’s improvisational and experimental scene, she has become a key voice in contemporary avant-pop.

Bill Orcutt is an American guitarist and composer known for his raw, highly individual approach to improvisation. A co-founder of the 1990s noise-rock duo Harry Pussy, he helped shape a fiercely abrasive aesthetic that drew from no wave, hardcore punk, and free jazz. Often playing a four-string guitar in unconventional tunings, he combines shards of melody, sudden silences, and surging rhythmic bursts, creating music that feels both primitive and structurally intricate. In parallel with his work as a guitarist, he runs the Palilalia and Fake Estates imprints and develops his own audio software, continuing to blur lines between avant-garde experimentation, song form, and DIY practice.

Almost Waking
I had known about Bill’s music for a while: since his 2017 release under his own name. I connected a lot with his music and I had no idea that years later we would be collaborating! It was a total surprise that we started chatting on the internet of collaborating! — we bounced ideas back and forth, all starting with a series of guitar solo stuff that Bill sent me. I had a great time with the pieces and in some of them had the honour to collaborate with I. La Catolica in the studio here in Mexico as well where we were trying to decipher the harmonic possibilities of Bill’s ideas and very carefully develop some good melodies that followed correctly the guitar. The vocal melodies followed also the same principle of trying to get tight with Bill’s iniciatives. The idea was to leave a lot of space but in only one of the tracks I just went on with the idea of harmonising shamelessly the vocals. The album ended up having this nostalgic vibe to it. I am so happy on how it turned out and grateful with the crazy coincidence that made it happen!

RECOMMENDED TO FANS OF:
Marc Ribot, Keiji Haino, Nels Cline, Sonny Sharrock, Claire Rousay, Julia Holter, Jenny Hval, Okkyung Lee

Tracklist: 

Side A
1. Almost Waking 
2. El Inicio es cuestión de suerte  
3. Forced & Forced & Forced 
4. Arise from Graves and Aspire
5. The Heaven of our Misery
6. Steps of the Sun 
7. Todo puede ser error 
8. A Rural Pen 

Guitar by Bill Orcutt, Cello and vocals by Mabe Fratti, except tracks 1,3,4 and 6 that were written by Bill Orcutt & Mabe Fratti with contributions on the cello arrangement by I.La Católica. Recorded at Tinho Studios in CDMX and in the Living Room in San Francisco. Mixed by Santiago Parra. Mastered by James Plotkin.

Special thanks to I.La Católoica who contributed with great aura, ideas and feedback at Tinho Studios.