These 10 guitar-powered tracks from Rafael Toral waft on gentle waves of mutant feedback spirals. The Violence of Discovery and Calm of Acceptance are explored with much emphasis on the latter by the Portuguese musician, producer and sound engineer. Churning metallic radiance envelops Desirée in a lightly boiling fogbank; other tracks drift in similarly gasesous states, such as the thrumming sheen of Quiet Mind or the swirling layers of somewhat accordian-like ripples in Maersk Line.
Toral’s 12-string Danelectro is heard in Optical Flow, with psychedelic little plucks and pings emitting from a molten core. Taking a turn into slightly darker territories, Energy Nourish purrs with a mechanical essence amid sweltering waves.
With a long name for a long track, Hay que trabajo me cuesta quererte como te quiero (8:55) bubbles with warmth and subtle weirdness. The beaming (sometimes rising/falling) flows of Mixed States Uncoded are ingrained with gritty smears of strumming (and interestingly, recorded “silence” during a space shuttle mission webcast).
In its 50-minutes course, the balance of Violence of Discovery and Calm of Acceptance decidedly tips toward the calm rather than the violent… I had no trouble accepting Rafael Toral ‘s amorphous works of guitarart, discovering their enigmatic beauty to be an 8.5 floatation into a realm of relaxing abstraction.
David J Opdyke
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