Amor de Días—the duo of Alasdair Maclean (Clientele) and Lupe Núñez-Fernández (Pipas)—just released debut album Street Of The Love Of Days via Merge. (Those of you who speak Spanish know that the band’s moniker translates to “love of days,” hence the album title.) Maclean and Núñez-Fernández worked on the 15-track LP for more than three years, and it features guest spots by the likes of Louis Philippe, Damon & Naomi, Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor) and Danny Manners. Maclean and Núñez-Fernández will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with them.
Núñez-Fernández: I first learned of Gilbert White through Alasdair, who took me to White’s house in Hampshire a few years ago. The Natural History Of Selborne, his most famous work, is an account of his daily observations of the happenings in his backyard, which sort of set the foundations for the work of modern naturalists everywhere. His use of the scientific method helped dispel myths and beliefs around plant and animal life. But even if you’re not a gardener, there is something really pleasurable and inspiring about his prose and the things he selects to write about, an inherent enveloping rhythm like the kind you can find in earlier “books of days.” “Today the swallows came back to the hedgerow”; “there was a pheasant in the zig-zag path this afternoon”; “men cut their meadows.” Day by day, year by year, season after season, this is a record of a life quietly spent marveling and in awe of the experimental potential of everyday actions. (Never mind the soundness of some of his attempts, like growing watermelons in England or timing how long his poor tortoise Timothy could stand under water.) Even if just passing through London, a visit to his Selborne orchard is well worth a detour.
Video after the jump.
