Experimental/Soundtrack: 7328 - Para Bárbara (2016)

61 / 100

Para Bárbara is a flawed but compelling early experiment.

Well, I thought 00 was 7328’s debut, but it turns out I misread the timeline. A month earlier in 2016, Para Bárbara had already been released, containing four tracks.

“Track 01” feels directly connected to “Track 02,” both presenting a piano-based soundtrack style blended with reversed audio. I have to admit, it sounds good and pleasant, although the recording—done using an Mp3 Sony Walkman NWZ B162F—makes it noticeably noisy. Other sounds include field recordings of someone coughing—possibly 7328 himself—at the end of the second track and again at the intro of the fourth track. This is followed by a monologue in “Track 03,” which all seems to have been recorded live in the same session and is admittedly quite distracting. “Track 04,” on the other hand, leans more toward ambient synth rather than piano, evoking a nighttime rural setting suggested by the sound of wooden slit drums, giving it a subtle horror atmosphere.

Therefore, I find Para Bárbara to be quite interesting thanks to its conceptual feel. There are two strong candidates here, but “Track 02” suffers from too much sonic contamination, placing it below the opening track—or forcing it to be skipped altogether.

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