Ephimeral

De foto, gekozen bij ‘Ephimeral’, is een schot in de roos. Alles aan dit album van de Spaanse geluidsartiest en componist Miguel Angel Tolosa doet je denken aan een lawaaierige fabriek vol stampende, sissende, herrie makende machines. Een omgeving waar je niet hoort te komen zonder het vooraf nemen van veiligheidsmaatregelen. En dan nog geldt: betreden op eigen risico.

U bent dus gewaarschuwd. Hier geen aantrekkelijk ritmes, mooie melodieën en harmonieuze klanken. Maar herrie, oftewel noise, duistere, angstaanjagende noise. Maar als noise mooi kan zijn, is dit mooie noise. In ieder geval onderhoudende noise. Want Tolosa weet zonder meer te overtuigen met zijn kunsten en op geheel eigen wijze boeiende composities te componeren. Er komt geen instrument aan te pas, maar dat mag de pret niet drukken.

Het begint allemaal met ‘Rio de Cristal’. Een loodzware drone, alles doordringend. Probeer hier nog maar eens helder bij te denken. En als dat hier nog wel lukt, lukt het in ieder geval niet meer bij ‘Tropismos’.Tolosa vuurt hier letterlijk een spervuur aan klanken af. Of een compleet bataljon zo snel als mogelijk van zijn lading munitie af wil. Wat rustiger wordt het pas met ‘Sol de Plomo y Purpura’ wat gaandeweg zo waar iets fragiels krijgt in zijn ijle drone en langzaam vliedende klanken. Als de wind die door de lege fabriekshal waait en het stof laat dwarrelen.

Die dromerige wereld slaat Tolosa in ‘Fragmentos de Ti’ echter volledig aan gruzelementen. Hier dreunt het complete machinepark ten gevolge van een ijzingwekkende aardbeving. En jij dreunt onverdroten mee. ‘Sol de Plomo y Purpura’ bleek slechts een adempauze in een duistere trip door de kerkhoven van de moderne beschaving. En ja, het kan nog erger. In ‘Musgo’ barst een soort van onweer los waardoor je de haren te berge reizen en ‘De un Pais de Hierro’ kan zo dienen als soundtrack voor een stevige horror film.

Zelden zo’n angstaanjagend, verpletterend album gehoord dan dit ‘Ephimeral’! Groots en van een verpletterende schoonheid.

Miguel Angel Tolosa is een Spaanse componist en geluidstechnicus die heen en weer pendelt tussen Madrid en Keulen, en voor zijn album Ephimeral ook nog een tijdje in Stockholm was om daar in de EMS studio’s op te nemen. Alles bij elkaar heeft dat zo’€™n vijf jaar geduurd, na zo’€™n lange tijd moet je toch wel met iets van enig belang komen. En dat doet Tolosa, ook al zal de wereld er niet even door stilstaan. Tolosa geeft weinig uitleg, de muziek moet voor zichzelf spreken, dus vooruit: de tien tracks gaan steeds uit van een kalm, schoon en laag geluid, dat zich heel langzaam ontwikkelt naar ehm iets meer van hetzelfde, en uiteindelijk in schoonheid wegsterft. Niet meer of minder eigenlijk, we hebben het er maar mee te doen. Het geluid is prachtig, rijk, warm en vol, maar naar de bron ervan is het gissen. Niet lullen maar luisteren lijkt het devies van Tolosa, en dat is een goed idee.

Ephimeral is a recent release of electronic music by Spanish composer and sound artist Miguel Angel Tolosa. Tolosa first got my attention in 2015 with Loner, his superb collaboration with Ingar Zach (which ended up on my Best Albums of 2015) and this disc has got me just as excited. That title, though i’m unsure whether the spelling is implying something specific, hints at the fact that half of the ten pieces on the disc are very short, barely clocking two minutes’ duration. Some are a bit too ephemeral for their own good, but this is due simply to the fact that what Tolosa is doing feels too interesting to be curtailed like this. ‘Musgo’ (Moss) and ‘Allá lejos’ (Far away) are cases in point, the former an intense, dense noise-based texture within which clear bands are detectable as well as different behavioural elements – some rumbly, some granular – with a clear sense of restraint shown in the lower frequencies, while the latter is characterised by a glitched, regular pulsing in the midst of a throbby floating texture. ‘Tropismos’ (Tropisms) and ‘Pálida y móvil, sombra’ (Light and mobile, shadow) are even shorter, together lasting less than three minutes, but they go even further in presenting assertive ideas that are instantly engaging. Keeping these four pieces as brief as this is clearly Tolosa’s point, so one must be content to relish and revisit their fleeting moments; in ‘Pálida y móvil, sombra’ (which lasts 72 seconds), Tolosa is even sufficiently courageous to allow a substantial portion of silence to intrude. There’s truly something marvellous and mysterious going on in these miniatures.

What makes their brevity uncomfortable is because Tolosa’s soundscapes feel instinctively meditative. They’re not really ‘ambient’ in the familiar sense of that word – they’re too consistently interesting for that – but their immersive qualities are considerable. This is music to bathe in. Thankfully, there are more in-depth pieces that demonstrate where Tolosa’s ideas can go and what they can be when given longer to speak. The album opener, ‘Rio Cristal’ (Crystal River) quickly develops into a quasi-static cluster of growing intensity; various pitches within become prominent as drones, teasing out implications of harmony (particularly an interesting minor/major third ambiguity). ‘Sol de plomo y purpura’ (Sun of lead and purple) goes further, beginning life with a field recording of rain and thunder. This recedes to reveal an attractive floating network of pitches, some fixed, others moving, colliding, coalescing, clustering, but all broadly consonant. This is where duration becomes so meaningful, establishing over seven minutes a concentrated focal point, like a gentle sonic laser beam upon and through which other paths of light glance and refract. Longer still is ‘Fragmentos de ti’ (Fragments of you), my favourite piece on the album. Tolosa sets up an intense throbbing and pulsating that, devoid of high frequencies, soon becomes more noise-based. Medium register sounds and pitches are introduced and removed like organ stops, and the piece displays a patient swelling and receding structure (never entirely disappearing) that, alongside the muted character of the music – suggesting hefty unidentifiable objects moving in a large, resonant space – brings to mind later works by The Hafler Trio. Nothing’s ever fixed, the music is constantly being revised or altered, ultimately receiving an injection of bass that causes it slowly to tilt out of view. Really wonderful stuff. Ephimeral is available on CD direct from SOFA and digitally from the usual places.

Very happy to hear Ephimeral (SOFA MUSIC SOFA558), a solo set by the Madrid composer Miguel Angel Tolosa, released on the Norwegian Sofa label. Tolosa has come our way once before, collaborating with the American John Hudak on the minimal conceptual piece Garten for Winds Measure Recordings, but the Spaniard also has a very respectable history supplying his technical production and engineering skills for numerous labels, projects, and artistes, including works by Asher, Celer, and TSP fave Miguel A. Garcia. The ten pieces on Ephimeral were realised in a variety of locales across Europe, including Düsseldorf, Bonn, and Madrid, plus he also used the EMS studios in Stockholm.

One needs to spend more time in the company of this excellent record, but on today’s spin it’s obvious that Tolosa is a real heavyweight; the music is honest, beautiful, and filled with a rich emotional range. Further, it’s evident that he has major technical skills enabling him to realise and structure his ideas. There’s drama, threat, sadness, and mystery on this record, and more besides; despite the “abstract” surface of these textures and tones, what comes across is a far more human dimension, something bordering on a story. It is very refreshing to hear this very personal and heartfelt approach to composition, as opposed to a method that insists on its own technique and stresses the equipment or the processes. If anything, Tolosa is so adept that he’s able to cover his tracks in the studio; at times it is possible to forget you are listening to a recording, and instead are experiencing a slice of some other-worldly existence.

If I am right, this means that his stated aims and intentions have been completely successful: “music is the experience of time through listening with an additional, subtle emotional element…music as time made audible, music as beauty made to sound.” Wonderful.

Sofa Music äußert sich stolz und erfreut, mit Miguel Angel Tolosa einen schönen Edelstein der spanischen Musik entdeckt zu haben. Der in Madrid und Köln lebende Komponist und Tontechniker gehört seit bereits fünf Jahren zur Sofa-Familie, übernahm das Mastering mehrerer Alben und produzierte eine Duo-CD mit Ingar Zach, einem der Labelinhaber. Mit »EPHIMERAL« bekommt er nun die Chance einer eigenen Solo-Veröffentlichung. Anders als etwa Zachs unruhige, raue und teils körperlich dröhnende Sound Art zeichnet Tolosa eine vorsichtigere, eher sensible Ambient-Collage, die streckenweise ins Düster-Ätherische gleitet.

Als Noise gehen die zehn verhallten Tracks, die wohl eher als durchgehende minimalistische Suite gedacht sind, dennoch durch; je nach Bedarf kann man die CD als leise Raumerfahrung à la Thomas Köner oder Biosphere genießen oder mit hoher Lautstärke als drastische Klangberge wie bei Juv oder Mika Vainio erfahren. Der Albumtitel ist vermutlich im Sinne von »flüchtig« und »vergänglich« gemeint, und tatsächlich materialisieren sich alle Stücke ebenso langsam und zart, wie sie sich nach einigen Minuten wieder aufzulösen scheinen, verschwinden in der Vergangenheit. Dazu passt dann auch die visuelle Gestaltung, die veraltete Bilder von unnütz gewordenen Gerätschaften und Gebäuden zeigen. Tolosas über rund fünf Jahre in Stockholm, Düsseldorf, Bonn und Madrid entstandene Ambient-Klangkunst verweist auf keine konkreten Quellen, doch es ist anzunehmen, dass er mit Feldaufnahmen und elektronischen Klängen diverse Computerprozesse durchlaufen hat. Viel Atmosphäre, vielleicht etwas (zu) wenig Dynamik.

Tolosa è un compositore elettroacustico, "sound artist" e ingegnere del suono che si muove tra Madrid e Colonia. Dopo varie collaborazioni con la Sofa esce con un disco tutto suo. Oggetto della sua musica è l'esperienza del tempo attraverso l'ascolto, con particolare attenzione all'elemento emozionale; musica come tempo reso udibile, musica come bellezza fatta suono. Il progetto è svolto compiutamente in 10 tracce, quasi dieci esercizi o variazioni, punti di vista diversi attraverso differenti atmosfere. Il suono di cui sono fatti pezzi è molto curato e bello, muovendosi tra materici sottofondi ambient, ora più brumosi, ora più cupi e field recording gocciolanti mutati in aeree atmosfere elettroniche quasi tarkovskijane. Alcuni pezzi sono forse troppo brevi e seppur compiuti perdono un po' della tensione meditante che, di fatto, ha bisogno non solo di un tempo interiore ma anche del suo scorrere per svilupparsi appieno.

Συνθέτης και τεχνικός ήχου ο ισπανός Miguel Angel Tolosa έχει για την ετικέτα Sofa το πρώτο του σόλο άλμπουμ,«Ephimeral«, έργο που χαρακτηρίζεται ως ηλεκτροακουστικό. Βασικό ρόλο στις δουλειές του μαδριλένου μουσικού παίζει η έννοια του χρόνου στον οποίο εξελίσσεται  ο ήχος και πως τον βιώνει ο ακροατής. Άνευ πολιτικού ή φιλοσοφικού περιεχόμενο αλλά καθαρά ηχητική διαδικασία και τα συναισθήματα που προκαλεί. Τώρα, η αισθητική του “Εφήμερου” συνδυάζει συνθετητές, θόρυβο, ηχογραφήσεις πεδίου και ατμοσφαιρικές, σκοτεινές όμως και υπόγειες μελωδικές γραμμές.

Tolosa is een Spaanse componist en geluidstechnicus die zijn tijd verdeeld tussen Madrid en Keulen. Hij studeerde met Antoine Beuger in het Duitse Haan en electro akoestische muziek met Jean Claude Risset en Eduardo Polonio in Madrid. Op zijn palmares staan heel wat albums waar hij achter de knoppen zat en ook het aantal labels dat zijn werk publiceerde is lang. Eén van de bekendste uitvoerders van zijn werk is misschien wel het Trio Arbós. Voor zijn eigen releases gebruikte hij het pseudoniem Ubeboet of ook nog m_. ’Ephimeral’ is het eerste werkstuk dat hij onder zijn eigen naam uitbrengt. De opnames namen vier jaar in beslag en vonden plaats op verschillende locaties. Centraal gegeven is hoe muziek een invloed heeft op het verstrijken van tijd. De tijdsruimte of tijdspanne waarin geluiden doorklinken, met als extra inbreng emotionele elementen. Het is ook een zoektocht naar de schoonheid van klanken en geluiden. De titel verwijst naar het vergankelijke, het voorbijgaande, het vluchtige dat moeilijk te vatten is. De duur van de composities is heel verscheiden net als de muzikale impressies en weergaves. In die opzichten is het een heel persoonlijk en intiem opus waar Tolosa zijn gevoelens laat spreken en de luisteraar een inkijk geeft op zijn eigen leefwereld en meer galactisch, het universum. Muziek, niet altijd even toegankelijk, maar die wel aanspoort om te blijven luisteren en je fantasie de vrije loop te laten. Beeldrijk met verschillende gradaties van beklemming en ontzag tot verpozing en relaxatie.

Tonal Dark Ambient is the order of the day, on this third full-length affair from Madrid’s Miguel Angel Tolosa. Rich undercurrents of grit scuttle over a sea of low-end pads; that reach out to the heavens in a subtle desperation. With the odd flash of field recordings to pad out an atmosphere, Tolosa has left space for his gentle drone work to provide light where there is shade; and when they do appear, they provide a welcome respite from the murky depths from which this album was born. As a whole, this is by no means a game changer in the DA community. However, with this album, Miguel can safely sit on the fringe of the genre; providing value to that scene, whilst crossing over to other ambient territories as a stable bridge. As calm as it is unnerving, ‘Ephimeral’ is a solid piece of work that is as necessary and as urgent as that produced by many of his peers.

L’ultima scoperta in casa Sofa è un musicista spagnolo che vive a Madrid, Miguel Angel Tolosa. Sebbene quasi cinquantenne, Tolosa pubblica il suo primo album solista proprio per l’etichetta dei due Huntsville Ingar Zach e Ivar Grydeland. Ephimeral è un tuffo negli abissi inesplorati del suono, un salto nel buio più inestricabile dove anche un flebile bagliore può rappresentare l’essenza dell’esistenza. Dieci tracce di dark-ambient stellare, in grado di cortocircuitare gli incubi di Lustmord con le visioni glaciali di Thomas Köner. Dopo una carriera spesa a scrivere musiche per altri musicisti, finalmente Miguel Angel Tolosa ha trovato la sua voce.

Spanish sound designer Miguel Angel Tolosa is a Renaissance man, performing on all instruments and / or devices while demonstrating his audio engineering prowess on his inaugural solo album for the Norwegian experimental record label, SOFA Music. Moreover, he's been an integral part of this label's output while also recording for other US and European entities and having his compositions interpreted by flutist Allesandra Rombala and Trio Arbus among others. 

Per Tolosa, the premise for this outing is not meant to be a socio-political diatribe or steeped in religious values. It's all about experiencing time "through listening with an additional, subtle emotional element." He succeeds on numerous levels, whether signaling notions of vintage Brian Eno amid some good old cosmic bliss on the opener "Rio De Cristal," or on other works accentuated by brooding electronics passages that kindle imagery of orbiting a black hole star or something to that effect. Consequently, the pristine and detailed soundstage is an additive when Tolosa is stacking layers of swarming synth patterns above darkly shaded chords, where the underlying musical concepts share similar tonal aspects. 

The artist captures the timelessness of intergalactic voids by imparting depth and extended EFX-related voicings. "Sol De Plomo Y Purpura" is a contemplative and serene piece, framed on a vast plane, although "Fragmentos De Ti" features a reverberating sonic attack trimmed with steely treatments and foreboding implications. Other pieces cast notions of having a date with Armageddon via sizzling EFX and ominous connotations. But "De Un Pais De Hierro" summons imagery of a galactic mechanical machine, built with churning gears, ghostly voices and a whole lot of shaking and trembling. 

Tolosa is spot on by stating his objectives concerning "the subtle emotional element" and not framing his work on distinct topics or predetermined subject matter. It's one of those electronica endeavors that transforms itself into different hues, shapes and mindsets on each additional spin.

Keine Botschaften oder überhaupt andere als musikalische Inhalte: Das will der Spanier Miguel Angel Tolosa in seiner Musik erreichen. Der studierte Komponist und Elektroakustiker hat in dieser Haltung eine große Fraktion von Musiktheoretikern auf seiner Seite. Und Fragen wie die, ob Musik eine Sprache ist oder nicht, erledigen sich für Tolosa damit im Grunde von selbst. Mit »Ephimera«, seinem ersten Soloalbum unter eigenem Namen, ist er dem Anspruch der »Inhaltsfreiheit« ziemlich nahe gekommen. Die Klänge scheinen sich weitgehend selbst überlassen, brummen als Drones durch hallende Räume, knistern und rauschen ein wenig, mal schabt etwas metallisch vorbei, ohne dass man die einzelnen Geräusche richtig dingfest machen könnte, hier und da schweben die Töne gelöst und wie in großer Höhe. Die Stücke auf »Ephimera« sind vorwiegend düster grundiert, was jedoch allenfalls eine Stimmung kennzeichnet – Gefühle sind in Tolosas Musik keinesfalls verboten. Auch hier geht Offenheit vor Eindeutigkeit, man kann, je nach Gemütslage, pessimistische Gesten darin finden oder einfach ein feines Gespür für Rätselhaftigkeit. Unabhängig davon, wie man den emotionalen Aspekt der Musik deutet, haben Tolosas Stücke eine suggestive Dichte, etwas, an dem man sich aller Unbestimmtheit zum Trotz beim Hören selbst festhalten kann. Ein Abenteuer des Hörens ohne Auflösung – und ohne Geschichte.

Molte tra le più interessanti espressioni artistiche si realizzano ai poli opposti della concretezza e dell'astrazione: in musica esiste una florida scena di matrice acustica che si interessa della fisicità nel suono di certi strumenti e delle infinite potenzialità che nascondono (e proprio l'etichetta Sofa si dedica principalmente a questo versante); così come all'altro estremo si sviluppa un'estetica che per quanto possibile tenta di scindersi dal realismo dei suoni, di norma identificabili e attribuibili alla loro fonte.

Per questo tipo di ricerche, che derivano anche dalla predisposizione individuale nell'approcciarsi alla materia sonora, bisogna fare riferimento soprattutto alle nuove correnti della sperimentazione elettronica, ove è quasi sempre appropriato riferirsi ai suoi esponenti col titolo di sound artists.
La label di Ingar Zach rivendica giustamente il primato sulla rivelazione dello spagnolo Miguel Angel Tolosa, autore la cui capacità di elaborazione del suono si dimostra nell'immediato, con la totale trasparenza di una narrazione informale ma diretta alla sensazione epidermica e all'immaginazione.

Allievo del compositore riduzionista Antoine Beuger, Tolosa riesce a solcare le profondità della dark-ambient senza indugiare troppo su singole colonne di bordoni, mette in risalto i dettagli e insegue le loro forme come procedendo a tentoni nella semi-oscurità. Come in altri casi analoghi, la volontà dichiarata è di non convogliare temi e concetti che sconfinino dalla pura esperienza del tempo attraverso l'ascolto: obiettivo realizzato spontaneamente e con sincera affezione per tutto ciò che, a volte in maniera inaspettata, la libera manipolazione del suono può restituirci.

In questo senso il suo primo full-length solista trova un posto adeguato a fianco degli improvvisatori propriamente detti che hanno lasciato il segno nel catalogo Sofa, oramai un patrimonio documentale per la creatività underground europea: produzione difficile da afferrare con le parole, ma oltremodo seducente per l'orecchio curioso.

Spaniard Miguel Angel Tolosa has produced his first solo work for the terrific SOFA label in Norway after contributing to a number of other projects. Years in the making, these 10 pieces were recorded between 2012 and 2016 in Stockholm, Düsseldorf, Bonn and Madrid.
 
You may know Tolosa's earlier work, produced under the name Ubeboet. He produces tender, soothing ambient music that — at least on this new album, Ephimeral — comes at the listener in gentle waves. "Sol de plomo y purpura" is a standout. While properly defined as a drone work, it feels more like a minimalist choral piece. It sings without singers, and the effect is breathtaking.
 
This isn't all minor-chord ear candy, though. Tracks like "Musgo" and "De un pais de hierro" will challenge you. They're not abrasive, but there's plenty of texture here. Tolosa has found a way to incorporate white noise into his work without reminding you of an air conditioner.
 
Tolosa produces beautiful music without pandering to his audience on Ephimeral. You'll have to listen closely at times, but every one of these 10 tracks is worth the effort.

Als Mitmusiker und Ton-Ingenieur ist der Madrilene Miguel Angel Tolosa bereits seit geraumer Zeit eng mit dem norwegischen Spezial-Label Sofa verbunden. Mit Ephimeral tritt er dort erstmals als Hauptakteur in Erscheinung. Und weitet das Repertoire der Firma anhand eines von direkten Bezügen losgelösten und dennoch attraktiv triftigen Ambient-Album gehörig aus.

Sollte Ephimeral als Auftakt zur Erweiterung des Label-Rosters fungieren, so dürfen wir von der norwegischen Institution für Improvisation auch noch so manch herausragendes Werk der abstrakt ausformulierten Sinnstiftung erwarten. Zumindest hat sich Miguel Angel Tolosa dazu hinreißen lassen, ein Album aus agitatorisch höchst sublimer Stimulanz zu veröffentlichen, das mit der etablierten Qualität von Thomas Köner oder Celer – bei aller Friedfertigkeit des Ausdrucks – auch kompetitiv mithalten kann.

Dabei gelingt ihm eine sukzessive Erzeugung von emotional anrüchigen Atmosphären, die Ephimeral von den akzidentiellen Klanggebilden beiläufiger Gebrauchsmusik abheben. Zwar betont der Spanier den Anspruch, mit Ephimeral allein dem Verlauf der Zeit zu huldigen. Doch dürfte er keine Einwände geltend machen, so seine Hörer die Zeit mit seinem Album als willkommene Gelegenheit erachten, sie mit den inhaltlichen Komponenten einer inneren Zwiesprache auszugestalten. Ambient-Album des (Früh-) Jahres.

Maybe you remember Ubeboet from Spain? That was the name chosen by Miguel Angel Tolosa, who these days abandoned the name Ubeboet and uses his own name. Tolosa studied composition with Antoine Beuger and electroacoustic music with Jean Claude Risset and Eduardo Polonio and there is not a lot of difference between the work he created as Ubeboet and Tolosa. He's not interested in any 'extramusical contents', such as of religious, political or commercial things, but "the object of his music is the experience of time through listening with an additional, subtle emotional element. Music as time made audible, music as beauty made to sound". Perhaps this is something more of an oddball release for Sofa Music. So far their releases had real instruments, even when perhaps not conventionally played. In the case of Tolosa I would think there is a lot of computer processing going on, in which he transforms a lot of other sounds, which might be field recordings, acoustic sounds or synthetic/electronic sounds, into a gentle microsound mass of ambient sounds. Sometimes a bit dark but gentle it surely is. I can imagine this might be something new in the living room of Sofa Music, but in the world of Vital Weekly it is something that is hardly unusual. Not a single week passes without a release that consists of field recordings, software and processing resulting in something very much ambient. That is not to say that Tolosa released a CD that is 'bad', actually far from it; it is just not something that is very new. What Tolosa does, he does very well. In the ten relative short pieces, ranging from one and half minute up to almost nine minutes, we hear a fine variety of approaches on these sounds and the result is very much dark, microscopic and atmospheric, but as said with a fine amount of variety in the shades these pieces will put on your wall.