Valentina Villarroel is one of the most unassuming artists we’ve even encountered.  Content to let her work speak for itself, she provides only sparse descriptions. In a single sentence, she writes that Mares was recorded at “different locations around the region of Bio Bio, Chile.”  The rest is up to us.

This is her second release of the season on Sonospace, arriving on the heels of the recently reissued Pequeñas Composiciones, an experimental set comprised of field recordings, found sounds and studio manipulations.  Mares is more straightforward, a collection of crisply mastered recordings captured where land meets sea. It’s the best recording of its kind since Chris Silver T’s Salty Spots, and pairs nicely with Simon Šerc‘s Bora Scura: one set wind, the other one waves.

For those who can’t get to the beach, Mares makes an evocative sonic companion.  The nine numbered tracks rise in…