Search - Rafael Toral :: Violence of Discovery

Violence of Discovery and Calm of Acceptance

Mike Newmark | Tarzana, CA United States | 05/31/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The influence of My Bloody Valentine, particularly their capstone, Loveless, has reached apallingly far and wide. Though the shoegazer movement was only in full force for a handful of years, few singular bands (like Nirvana) can claim direct responsibility for a musical genre, no matter how brief. But while MBV specifically played what we now might call "Dream Pop", they were really about sound with a capital S, and that observation does wonders to explain the hazy, ambient drones that Portuguese guitarist Rafael Toral beckons from his lone Fender Jaguar guitar. Toral (an admitted Loveless admirer, as if we aren't all) is also about pure sound, and the soundscapes he can muster up only using the most notoriously ubiquitous instrument in rock.



Granted, Toral could have achieved a very similar (perhaps even the same) effect using a synthesizer and some software, which would have cut down the number of effects pedals cluttering up his studio. Still, this is partly a concept album, as Toral is a "concept artist", in that Toral is interested in the radical possibilities of sound by way of unorthodox methodology. The idea is hardly original either, having been lifted by Alvin Lucier, Yasunao Tone, and My Bloody Valentine before him.



That said, the album can grow a bit tiresome. With albums of this kind, there is always a danger of the process overshadowing the product, and while the album is pretty enough, listening to it without knowing its methodological context would strip it of most of its meaning. Furthermore, Toral's version of ambience lacks a certain depth. Ambient music relies on drones rather than identifiable melodies, but to call it static is blasphemous; the best ambient is made up of a good many layers and is constantly (but deceptively) shifting in plate tectonics fashion. The music here is nice but largely two-dimensional, which makes it a good deal less engaging than, say, Windy & Carl. Fortunately, Toral knows when enough is enough, wisely keeping most tracks to a 5 minute limit. So while the album as a whole isn't too varied, there's enough difference from track to track to keep the listener out of a nullified stupor. One notable track is also the most disparate: the final track, "Mixed States Uncoded", takes some prototypical post-rock guitar strumming and adds a fuzzy level of reverb and a soft, high-pitched warbling sound that, when taken together, is jaw-droppingly beautiful.



Even with the complaints above, VODACOA remains the quintessential Rafael Toral document. The fascinating premise and short song lengths mark a move away from his isolating work of the past and toward some degree of accessibility. It's not the best ambient music, nor the most original (sorry, Rafi), but for an appealing, harmless journey into the ether world of pure sonic texture, this one is worth a listen."