“Ixo” is an excerpt from Ainara LeGardon’s stunning trilingual book/cassette boxed collection, Res-cue. The Archive in the Mouth, which I fee incredibly fortunate to have seen in person and held in my hands. It is a beautiful thing on a number of levels, and if you live in a country where you can purchase a physical copy, you should do so right now. (With any luck we’ll have a proper review of the whole thing coming up. Watch this space.)
The lyrics to “Ixo” were written by Xabier Erkizia. The song evolved over a series of years from Ainara’s own work. As I peruse the book now (have I mentioned how freaking gorgeous it is? It has an audio-tape book mark for crying out loud) I see that this piece – featured on Mixtape 2 of Res-cue – got its start as “Last Day,” which was a video before it was a song, but the song starts off Ball of Wax 44, our all-vocal installment. “Last Day” eventually became “Frío,” which I assume was in Spanish, and the piece now exists in Basque as “Ixo.”
As far as the music goes: it is stark and raw and brimming with feeling. Ainara LeGardon is, without question, one of my favorite people to hear sing and play guitar, and “Ixo” is a perfect example of why. Pick up Res-cue if you can, and if not go throw a bunch of money her way on Bandcamp.
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