Jefre Cantu-Ledesma

Creating sounds based in both patient ambient exploration, experimental clatter, and the textural expressiveness of shoegaze, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma applies his distinctive voice to a wide range of instrumental styles, from the distorted ambient haze of his 2010 debut Love Is a Stream to the slowed-down beats and tape experiments of 2015's A Year with 13 Moons. Along with solo work, Cantu-Ledesma collaborates frequently, bringing in a host of contributors on his 2019 high-water mark album Tracing Back the Radiance, and working with like-minded musician <a href="spotify:artist:0GQ41PAPwwmrEv0DJzpTI3">Ilyas Ahmed</a> on the 2021 joint effort You Can See Your Own Way Out.

Born and raised in Texas, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma delved into abstract music around the same time he was studying sculpture and visual arts in San Francisco in the mid-'90s. Developing an ambient approach to the spacy indie rock and slowcore of the time, Cantu-Ledesma co-founded the highly influential instrumental act <a href="spotify:artist:1Lqqtkuf3lzDlSJ1AGK3vg">Tarentel</a>, worked with experimental rock trio <a href="spotify:artist:6WekZhuhmWdOtqSZLeZqYd">the Alps</a>, and ran the well-respected drone/ambient label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Root+Strata%22">Root Strata</a>. Prolifically collaborative, Cantu-Ledesma worked with <a href="spotify:artist:31uyAcnY0kjjKKIQZMKX4i">Grouper</a>'s Liz Harris in a duo called Raum, as well as with filmmaker Paul Clipson and in Alexis Georgopoulos' <a href="spotify:artist:3nmCWNVgTseDuX2OyUeTsX">ARP</a> project. For a short time he worked solo under the name <a href="spotify:artist:7HwVGFNFL1T3ZOaU3mDVFU">Colophon</a>, and released music under his own name. A more official solo debut came out in 2010 with the beautifully damaged shoegaze tones of Love Is a Stream, released on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Type+Records%22">Type Records</a>. Some copies of the record included the companion EP Love Is a Dream, featuring collaborations between Cantu-Ledesma and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Type%22">Type</a> founder John Twells' <a href="spotify:artist:1DpTCZ0h0a2IDmLiKJtDN5">Xela</a> project.

Following several years' worth of limited cassette and vinyl releases, a proper follow-up came in 2015 with A Year with 13 Moons. Named after a Fassbinder film, the collection of dreamy guitar textures, modular synth noise, and distant drum-machine rhythms was put together during a residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area. The album was released early that year on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mexican+Summer%22">Mexican Summer</a>. In 2016, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Shelter+Press%22">Shelter Press</a> released Comme un Seul Narcisse, a collaborative LP by Cantu-Ledesma and <a href="spotify:artist:5YQURNvswNpWWUWyeNT7we">Félicia Atkinson</a> (aka <a href="spotify:artist:3dmhB5CNeKEVzFxzA2spoT">Je Suis le Petit Chevalier</a>), and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Geographic+North%22">Geographic North</a> released Cantu-Ledesma's solo cassette In Summer. Also that year, the Czech label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Pre-Echo%22">Pre-Echo</a> issued vinyl editions of Songs of Remembrance and Songs of Forgiveness, two previously cassette-only albums from 2014. In 2017, he returned to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mexican+Summer%22">Mexican Summer</a> with On the Echoing Green, a clearer, more accessible album than his previous efforts. 2019 marked another step away from well-traveled territory with the more subdued, experimental, and chamber instrumentation of Tracing Back the Radiance. In 2021 Cantu-Ledesma collaborated with Portland musician <a href="spotify:artist:0GQ41PAPwwmrEv0DJzpTI3">Ilyas Ahmed</a> on duo album You Can See Your Own Way Out. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi