Portuguese bassist and composer Hugo Carvalhais doesn’t stop to surprise
us. After two internationally acclaimed albums with his piano (and
synthesizer)-bass-drums trio complemented by guests like Tim Berne,
Emile Parisien and Dominique Pifarely, here he comes again with
something completely different, even if the French violinist is again
involved. Now, there’s no drumset on sight, but we can’t point it as a
contemporary version of chamber music because of the electronics
involved: Gabriel Pinto’s keyboards and Jeremiah Cymerman’s computer
processing. There’s an overall strangeness in this interpretation of the
book trilogy “Valis”, by science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick, but you
also feel seduced by the dreamlike sound waves.
And in familiar terrain – after all, it’s still jazz, it’s still organic and it’s still vibrant and full of humanity. The bass lines breath, giving us the impression that this music is a mix of living bodies. Everything is ambiguous here, from the omnipresent retro-futuristic organ chords to the either ethereal or grainy atmospheres. It’s that paradoxical factor which keeps the mystery from start to end. When it does end you want to go to the beginning right after and solve your puzzlement, but you can’t.
Grand Valis is a world in itself and its resistance to your reasoning is what makes you return to it again and again, trying to find out why you’re addicted
01.Exegesis 5:03
02.Logos 5:46
03.Oblong Emission 4:38
04.Anamnesis 3:46
05.Involution 1:51
06.Decoding Maya 4:36
07.Amigdala Waves 4:58
08.Holographic Maya 4:37
09.Digitalis 6:45
10.Zebra 2:40
Credits
Double Bass – Hugo Carvalhais
Electronics – Jeremiah Cymerman
Organ – Gabriel Pinto
Violin – Dominique Pifarély
And in familiar terrain – after all, it’s still jazz, it’s still organic and it’s still vibrant and full of humanity. The bass lines breath, giving us the impression that this music is a mix of living bodies. Everything is ambiguous here, from the omnipresent retro-futuristic organ chords to the either ethereal or grainy atmospheres. It’s that paradoxical factor which keeps the mystery from start to end. When it does end you want to go to the beginning right after and solve your puzzlement, but you can’t.
Grand Valis is a world in itself and its resistance to your reasoning is what makes you return to it again and again, trying to find out why you’re addicted
01.Exegesis 5:03
02.Logos 5:46
03.Oblong Emission 4:38
04.Anamnesis 3:46
05.Involution 1:51
06.Decoding Maya 4:36
07.Amigdala Waves 4:58
08.Holographic Maya 4:37
09.Digitalis 6:45
10.Zebra 2:40
Credits
Double Bass – Hugo Carvalhais
Electronics – Jeremiah Cymerman
Organ – Gabriel Pinto
Violin – Dominique Pifarély
CLEAN FEED
