Fernando Perdomo: "Clouds 10" (2026) CD Review

Fernando Perdomo is nearing the end of his second year-long musical project, Clouds. Following last year's Waves, this series features a new album of original material from Fernando Perdomo every month. He not only composes all the tracks, but plays all the instruments (there was an exception on the ninth volume), and produces each release. The music of the Clouds series is often soothing, and always takes the listener on wonderful journeys. I am drawn to music that can transport me in some way, and the music of this series does that. Clouds 10, released in October, is dedicated to Christina Burbano-Jeffrey, a violinist (you know her from her work in Lobate Scarp) and music teacher who died in a car crash caused by a reckless driver going the wrong way, in early September. 

The album eases in with "Day Just Begun," which feels like a meditation on a mountaintop, like communicating with the rising sun. It feels not just like a greeting, like a welcoming, but also like bidding goodbye to the dark, even as certain tendrils of night still have a tenuous hold on us. It has a gentle, pretty conclusion. That's followed by "Watching The Sky Unfold," a title I love, by the way. This track has the feel of being caught up in the drama of the sky. It has a somewhat tentative beginning, like a few gentle streaks of color. And then as it moves it into the main body, the pattern of the music reflects the patterns found above. It seems a solitary business, with hints of darkness. Interestingly, there is a shift in the second half, as something new seems to open before us. Or perhaps we ourselves have changed our perspective on what we're seeing, and our relationship to it. It is prettier, more soothing. 

The pattern in "We Are Sunshine," the rhythm of the guitar, quickly makes itself at home in our minds. Our rhythms happily adjust to it, or adopt it. And once that happens, the guitar then begins to rise, finding a joyous freedom. The guitar then combines the rhythm and the freedom to create a nice dance above this world, one that also takes place within us. "Look At You, Look At Me" follows. After its opening moments, a rather gentle entry, there is a delightful excitement here, like rays rushing down upon us, gathering us in their energy and taking us with them into a deeper place. And once there, the light is able to penetrate in places, splashing upon our faces, and soon wrapping around us and gently lowering us to the ground.

"Free Fall (Into My Arms)" is next, though on Bandcamp, it bears a different title, that being "Summer Swelter." This one announces itself gently, but insistently, and then plays on that initial motif. An electricity runs through it. There is a heat felt, our movement slowed perhaps because of it. It is followed by "The Bubble Machine." Though, interestingly, online this one is called "Free Fall Into Your Arms," a variation of the CD title of the previous track. It moves at a somewhat easygoing pace at first. And then after the briefest of breaths, it begins to take on more urgency, more intensity. And that grows, as comets whiz by us, getting terribly close, and we realize we have no control. Just hold on. This is an exciting track. And before it concludes, it relaxes its hold, returning to the feel of its opening. 

With "Rhythm," we find ourselves lost in thought as we look up at the sky, alone, the universe undeniably present, and so bright that we feel we could touch it if we simply raised our hands. And we do, causing ripples in the air. Testing it again and again, to find yes, it is real. And then it is over. That's followed by "I'll Never Forget You." The album, as I mentioned, is dedicated to Christina Burbano-Jeffrey, and this song in particular is for her. It comes in slowly, like a memory that isn't sure it wants to intrude. For then what will our state be? But then it has us anyway, and its beauty can lead to awe or tears, or both. How lucky we are to get to know someone at all, but then how painful to have that person snatched away. And yet this song exists in memory, where we all, for varying times, exist beyond ourselves.

Memory can be a lonesome place, even when filled with loved ones. That is the feeling I get as "Pleased" begins. And yet it is also pleasant. There is something appealing in it, something that draws us in. And then, when are in, we are enveloped, and there is a warm feeling. And we witness a beauty, little wisps of life that could be eternal, but fade. The album then concludes with "Nil." This piece introduces a certain rhythm at the start, and that rhythm is something we latch onto. There is the sense that it might take us beyond our lifespan, beyond whatever it was we were going to experience, if we are able to make its pulse our own. If we look around, what we perceive mainly is darkness. It is a lonely pulse in the void, taking us farther and farther out. Then it seems to end, to let us go. Do we have a breath left? Perhaps not, but we feel okay about it. But then something new begins to rain upon us. A new light. A new source of information. And it quickly grows in intensity. Interestingly, it too seems to leave us, but only to make way for a deeper, darker pulse. By now we've gone through so many changes, it is unclear just who we are anymore, and just what this reality is, but there is no way back now, and we continue until the end. What a journey this track takes us on.

CD Track List

1. Day Just Begun
2. Watching The Sky Unfold
3. We Are Sunshine
4. Look At You, Look At Me
5. Free Fall (Into My Arms)
6. The Bubble Machine
7. Rhythm
8. I'll Never Forget You (For Christina)
9. Pleased
10. Nil

Clouds 10 was released on October 1, 2026.