In the Summer of 2002, I was invited to the musician John Berndt’s Sound/Shift in Baltimore. It was there that I first had the pleasure of meeting up with the cellist Helena Espvall, who was also performing. We began a friendship that continued through her frequent travels to the Bay Area to perform, play and record. She participated in the Big Sur Experimental Music Festival in 2004, which happened to be based on Berndt’s Sound/Shift concept. I was honored Pax Recordings co-released Helena’s solo album “Nimis & Arx” with Steven Tobin’s Fire Museum Records label in 2006. Helena's boyfriend and now husband, Derek Espvall recorded Helena and I in 2013, as did KFJC radio station, and that became one of my favorite works— ‘A Hallowed Shell of Ash and Rust’ on Erototox Decodings. And over the years, as Helena came out to perform in the Matti Bye Ensemble at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, we seized the time to also record. Some of that music made its way into Marjorie Sturm’s films (“The Cult of JT Leroy” and “Show Me What You Want To Show Me”).
Throughout a lot of this time, Marjorie and I always hoped and discussed that one day we would go to Lisbon, Portugal, where Helena and Derek live. We finally made it there. This release, “a shadowed fulguration”, is an album celebrating our long musical friendship and collaboration.
—-Ernesto Diaz-Infante
credits
released March 28, 2025

Helena Espvall - cello, acoustic guitar and electronics
Ernesto Diaz-Infante - acoustic guitar
Marjorie Sturm - Nepalese flute, ceremonial bells and small percussion

Recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Derek Espvall at Opalacete, Lisbon, Portugal, June 12th & 14th, 2023.

Cover image by Derek Espvall