Ball of Wax 67 Songs: Ainara LeGardon & Ignacio Córdoba – “Noski”

Ainara LeGardon has brought us a wide range of sounds over the years, from pensive acoustic guitar-based songs to blistering rock, as well as more experimental fare that might challenge the listener’s definition of what constitutes music, or a song. Her collaboration with Ignacio Córdoba definitely falls into that latter category, but is no less compelling or listenable for it. Ainara and Ignacio (the project’s name, Ignora, is a combination of their names and “an accurate description of what happens to us when we make music”) wield instruments, processors, oscillators, and other effects and sounds to craft a disconcerting soundscape, buzzing and twisting and ringing. Above it floats Ainara’s voice, softly singing us through this strange landscape. I believe she’s singing in Basque – this project received support from the Basque Department of Culture and Linguistic Policy – and my ignorance of that language has stripped her voice of any linguistic meaning for me. Still, in my ears it functions as the most organic instrument in the mix, providing a life raft of humanity even without linguistic comprehension. Ainara, always moving her practice forward, has proved once again that she is incapable of making uninteresting music.