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Rafael Toral, "Harmonic Series 2"
Headz
Last I heard from this Japanese label was their release of Fennesz's Live in Japan,something of a surprise addition to that artist's catalogue, and onethat offered both a glimpse at new developments in his too-familiarstyle, and a pleasantly indulgent rebuff against those critics ready topredict, or pounce on, a new masterpiece. On its latest release, Headzgives another digital guitar hero, Rafael Toral, a similar opportunityto avoid quick canonization and indulge some new ideas over the courseof one disc-length track. On past records, Toral produced everythingfrom ecstatic, shoegazing jams to multi-sectioned, epic-length texturalexplorations, often using the juxtaposition between his moreintentionally rockist moments and the purer ambient passages to createan unique soundworld that embraces both with equal fervor. Harmonic Series 2 is a significant departure from the digestible, pop-length drones that filled Toral's last record, The Violence of Discovery, The Calm of Acceptance,though the switch to less-concise, more demanding composition iswelcome. The 43-min. piece, for sinewave, guitar and analogelectronics, marks the artist's first use of the computer as autonomousmusical instrument, its waveforms acting as the synthetic equivalent ofa guitarist's blending harmonic tones. Toral's use of the sinewave liesfar from the alienating compositions usually associated with such pureand relentless sounds, and while Harmonic Series does avoid thecosmic elegance that has characterized the artist's work thus far, thepiece remains surprisingly inviting. Weightless strands of e-bowedfeedback and gently throbbing harmonic layers intertwine with thecomputer's tones to create the most substantial portions of thecomposition, a fluid surface of constant dissolve and regeneration.Through a meticulous cycle of blends and pans, Toral reaches a powerfulsonic density from the tight flux of three or four blank tones ratherthan a congestion or distortion of the stereo field. The gritty,psychedelic edge that touched Toral's early work is totally absent;instead Harmonic Series seems to develop out of the resultingnegative space, a lyric-less tone poem to the information age, full ofhaunting, passive currents. Parts of the piece even recall the warpingeffects in Coil's Time Machines. The artwork tells it best:gone are the floating passenger jets that graced the covers of so manyToral recordings; here he offers only dark futurism, an empty skystalked by silent electrical towers. Given the track's length and theresistance of the pure tones to any recognizable or repeated dynamic,an overarching mood or directive within Harmonic Series is hardto locate. The steady flow and warm tonalities of the piece keep itinviting, but never to the rapturous extremes of the artist's otherlong-form composition, Wave Field. It seems fitting, if a bitpredictable or even overstated on such a sprawling release, that theartist's embrace of new technology should lead his music towards morewayward, alien territories.
Last I heard from this Japanese label was their release of Fennesz's Live in Japan,something of a surprise addition to that artist's catalogue, and onethat offered both a glimpse at new developments in his too-familiarstyle, and a pleasantly indulgent rebuff against those critics ready topredict, or pounce on, a new masterpiece. On its latest release, Headzgives another digital guitar hero, Rafael Toral, a similar opportunityto avoid quick canonization and indulge some new ideas over the courseof one disc-length track. On past records, Toral produced everythingfrom ecstatic, shoegazing jams to multi-sectioned, epic-length texturalexplorations, often using the juxtaposition between his moreintentionally rockist moments and the purer ambient passages to createan unique soundworld that embraces both with equal fervor. Harmonic Series 2 is a significant departure from the digestible, pop-length drones that filled Toral's last record, The Violence of Discovery, The Calm of Acceptance,though the switch to less-concise, more demanding composition iswelcome. The 43-min. piece, for sinewave, guitar and analogelectronics, marks the artist's first use of the computer as autonomousmusical instrument, its waveforms acting as the synthetic equivalent ofa guitarist's blending harmonic tones. Toral's use of the sinewave liesfar from the alienating compositions usually associated with such pureand relentless sounds, and while Harmonic Series does avoid thecosmic elegance that has characterized the artist's work thus far, thepiece remains surprisingly inviting. Weightless strands of e-bowedfeedback and gently throbbing harmonic layers intertwine with thecomputer's tones to create the most substantial portions of thecomposition, a fluid surface of constant dissolve and regeneration.Through a meticulous cycle of blends and pans, Toral reaches a powerfulsonic density from the tight flux of three or four blank tones ratherthan a congestion or distortion of the stereo field. The gritty,psychedelic edge that touched Toral's early work is totally absent;instead Harmonic Series seems to develop out of the resultingnegative space, a lyric-less tone poem to the information age, full ofhaunting, passive currents. Parts of the piece even recall the warpingeffects in Coil's Time Machines. The artwork tells it best:gone are the floating passenger jets that graced the covers of so manyToral recordings; here he offers only dark futurism, an empty skystalked by silent electrical towers. Given the track's length and theresistance of the pure tones to any recognizable or repeated dynamic,an overarching mood or directive within Harmonic Series is hardto locate. The steady flow and warm tonalities of the piece keep itinviting, but never to the rapturous extremes of the artist's otherlong-form composition, Wave Field. It seems fitting, if a bitpredictable or even overstated on such a sprawling release, that theartist's embrace of new technology should lead his music towards morewayward, alien territories.
