Allegoria: Electronic music and the debut of Fran Lezaun with the birth of eFFe Collective

With Allegoria, Fran Lezaun inaugurates eFFe Collective, his own record label, with an eleven-track electronic music album that moves away from a strictly dancefloor-oriented logic and concentrates on sound design, atmosphere, and the construction of a story from beginning to end.

Ambient, breakbeat, IDM, drum & bass, and experimental electronics appear throughout the album, although labels fall a bit short to describe what happens within each track. Allegoria is a sonic journey.

Habitad

From the very first track, Fran Lezaun's identity quickly emerges. The work on atmospheres and synthesizers is very present from the start.

Habitad starts from a dark and gloomy place, with a breakbeat that maintains movement while the pads begin to open up the sonic space. The feeling is almost of progressive illumination: the track begins in a more enclosed place and gradually starts to reveal new layers.

The percussions function as a point of contact with reality. While the atmospheres expand, the rhythm keeps feet on the ground.

The closing with the piano finishes completing the beginning of the album. It feels like a clear way of presenting the kind of trip that Allegoria proposes.

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Noisy Arguments

The second track directly picks up the atmosphere with which the previous one ends. The reverb and the noise from the closing of Habitad seem to continue into the beginning, generating a very natural connection between both pieces.

Dry hits, textures, and sounds reminiscent of nature appear: water, jungle, open spaces. Percussion occupies an important place, but not from a 4x4 structure or a purely dancefloor logic.

Noisy Arguments works with tension from another place. It is a track that could work perfectly at a specific moment on the dancefloor, generating enormous tension without depending on a constant kick or a lead synthesizer.

Allegorie.k54

A flute or instrument of Eastern origin seems to open the track, which quickly leans back on one of the most important elements of the album: the sounds of nature.

Birds, environments, and different organic textures appear integrated within an ambient piece in its purest form.

There are beats that appear every now and then, but the focus is completely placed on space and the sensation of crossing a place. It is one of those tracks that is hard to explain from a technical perspective because the experience is much more related to what it generates when listening to it.

Few melodies before the storm

A piano occupies the center of the composition, accompanied by pads and different atmospheres.

During the first moments, it might seem like a piece closer to classical or cinematic music, but the brass synthesizers that appear in the background keep the electronic dimension of the album present.

The entry of those elements is very well resolved. The track retains a sense of calm, but begins to incorporate new layers that modify the space.

It is one of the moments of the album where that relationship between electronics and film music most appears, with a sensitivity that may recall certain works by the renowned producer Stephan Bodzin.

https://effecollective.bandcamp.com/album/allegoria

Brisa de Mar

The sounds of nature continue to occupy an important place.

Brisa de Mar moves around a breakbeat structure, with sharp percussion and a bass that appears intermittently. There is no search to fill all spaces. Atmosphere remains one of the main elements.

There are soft bleeps that generate a sense of calm, in contrast with high "sharp" percussions that bring tension.

That combination of elements pushing in opposite directions appears several times throughout the album and is one of the resources that maintain attention during the listening experience.

Sucesos naturales

An ambient track where the sounds of nature cross paths with electronic elements that may approach a more sci-fi aesthetic.

There is something very interesting in that combination of the organic and the artificial. The sounds seem to belong to two different spaces, but they coexist inside the same piece.

Translating it into colors, Sucesos naturales is green and blue: nature, depth, and electronic dimension.

BVhz Nu4

One of the darkest and deepest tracks on the album.

BVhz Nu4 has a strong science fiction feel and once again showcases the level of sound design that runs through all of Allegoria.

The kick appears with a very particular saturation integrated in a way that is both harmonic and dirty at the same time. There are not too many sounds competing with each other. The track seems to work with few elements, but each one is very well designed.

The result is one of the most powerful moments on the album, in my opinion.

Sunder de Nieh

Here, the relationship with film music becomes even more evident.

Sunder de Nieh has a very strong ability to generate images. The sensation is that of traversing a natural space, running through the jungle while drums and different elements appear all around.

It is hard to describe exactly what happens in the sound. The track simply generates images and sensations.

At this point in the album, it is already clear that Allegoria does not only seek to be listened to: it also proposes imagining.

Why we shouldn't live our dreams?

The hallmark Fran Lezaun vocals appear more clearly in this track.

Although the presence of the Fran Lezaun signature is felt at different moments of the album, here a more recognizable facet of his production appears, integrated within a very powerful breakbeat.

The contrast of a dry kick with the pads and atmospheres once again generates a sensation of calm.

That duality between elements that generate tension and others that work in the opposite direction appears again. It is one of the most interesting features of the album: the tracks do not dwell in a single sensation.

Timeo

Timeo can be understood as one of the connecting points between the sonic universe of Allegoria and Fran Lezaun's most recognizable identity.

The atmospheres and sounds that travel through a good part of the album reappear, along with his vocals.

It is a combination that sums up quite well the journey that had been building up: sound design, cinematic feel, and a vocal identity that connects directly with the artist's previous work.

Wabi Sabi

The album closes with a much more sparse ambient track.

Sub-bass, pads, bleeps, electronic sounds, and noise build a piece with less information than much of what had been happening previously.

After an album with so many changes, layers, and stimuli, Wabi Sabi functions as a peaceful closing. It does not seek to add one last explosion, but rather to lower the intensity and let the journey end.

Allegoria is the first release from eFFe Collective and also the start of a new stage for Fran Lezaun. An album built from years of experimentation, with sound design as one of its central elements and a clear intention to explore electronic music beyond its usual structures.