Phonogram Unit is a Lisbon musicians’ label that over the past two years has released a series of often brilliant recordings, notable for their thoughtful conception, recording quality and design as well as frequently excellent musical results. The two latest releases from the label present special groups, both cross-generational, taking what may be diametrically opposed approaches to collective improvisation, one simultaneous, the other synchronous.
Improvised music, improvised life, perhaps our zone, is always the other, the unpredictable, the other side, the dimension where we know all our assumptions – values, methods – to be tentative, provisional, hearsay, perhaps even myth or delusion. Is improvised music predicated on empathy, inclusion, sensitivity, to the exclusion of the assertive, the egocentric, the aggressive? I don’t think so. I hear improvised music that might take up either side of the argument, knowing that an outlaw biker gang from an imaginary Texas is likely more spontaneous than an émigré ensemble of sand-painting monks from a hypothetical Tibet, even if the results of the former are unimpressive, the latter (a covenant with the mysteries of order and the transitory) astonishing, wherever and however you might find them.
Fortunately, there are no putative biker-gangs of improvised music here (for North American symphonies of air-horns, revving diesels and gunfire, check news of convoys, bring ear plugs), but hyper.object makes a special argument, an irresistible one in this case, for a certain sensitive solipsism or, conversely, a larger collectivism that insists on our connectedness whether we participate consciously or not, extending to the consciousness of objects. It’s wise enough to know that there’s more than one path to the spontaneous, more than one reading of its messages.
Hyper.object was formed in 2019 and consists of pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro, bassist Hernâni Faustino, electronic musician Carlos Santos, trumpeter João Almeida and drummer João Valinho, rehearsing frequently just prior to the pandemic lockdown. During a brief interlude in September 2020, they gathered to record inter.independence, a recording that intriguingly reflects the experience of isolation. Pinheiro remarks on the bandcamp page:
“On inter.independence the premise defined for the recording session was, beside all musicians having complete freedom to improvise and to choose their musical ideas, there should be an active focus for each one to develop their ideas individually and to not immediately react or engage in direct dialog with the other musicians from the group. What was being experimented was the creation of several individual and independent layers that would interact organically, so that the tension would arise by the textures and the expected and unexpected interactions created between these different layers that each musician was taking care of.”
Whether or not they articulate their premises, most improvising groups seem to develop a certain collective mindset, including disruptive as well as complementary practices, in the interest of both change or continuity. Free improvisation inevitably reflects a philosophical point of view, whether favoring the empathetic, the random or the confrontational. Here the chosen emphasis on individual concentration suggests a simultaneity of individual progressions, a sense of the continuum that is shared, whether or not individual lines are intended to necessarily reference one another.
There are wonders here. If Pinheiro and Almeida are often the central voices, each has a certain interest in the development of the micro-phrase, a few notes, a rhythmic-melodic pattern, repeated and varied incrementally. The myriad ways in which these might align become an orchestral micro-structure, like two interlocking serial patterns, so that a work like “Glue” achieves the structural clarity and precision of…well, Webern. Faustino can perform miracles with a few lower-register notes; Valhino’s spare percussion may comment only on itself, and in so doing connects everything; Santos’ advanced electronic input may involve only itself as well, may blur into piano or bass, or may drift absent-mindedly toward a star map or a circuit diagram, and in so doing carry the listener’s entire experience in that direction, toward a music that is an independent organism.
There are mysteries here, infinitely variable diagrams of five minds in a studio together that will connect with one another’s, and a listener’s, paths, but whether the patterns are intimately conjoined or arbitrary is utterly beside the point of the collective act and the experience of hearing. Their ultimate architecture may belong to the likely proximity of pitched instruments versus the compound, unpitched sounds, but all of that is speculative, beyond the strange intimacy of this music, its proximities and distances. The wonder is in its accessibility to assemblage, its avoidance of so much improvised music that rests on the anticipation and amplification of other musicians’ individual gestures, turning improvisation into the worst sort of therapy-group or composition. Paul Acquaro recently reviewed another recording here that similarly depended on the musicians not listening to each other, At One Time by Henry Kaiser, John Oswald and Paul Plimley. Inter.independence joins it among the year’s most engaging and illuminating recordings. Stuart Broomer
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Hyper.object é um projeto criado em 2019 pelo pianista Rodrigo Pinheiro e que junta outros dois veteranos da cena lisboeta da música livremente improvisada – o contrabaixista Hernâni Faustino e o manipulador de eletrónicas Carlos Santos – a dois músicos mais jovens, mas de valia reconhecida: o trompetista João Almeida e o baterista João Valinho. Lançam agora o registo de estreia, “inter.independence”.
Quando a pandemia lançou o seu manto de medo e incerteza sobre o mundo, o pianista Rodrigo Pinheiro aprofundou o seu interesse pelas consequências imprevisíveis das ações que tomamos, quer na condição de indivíduos quer coletivamente. «Durante esse tempo li o livro “Black Swan”, de Nassim Nicholas Taleb, e também descobri o livro “hyperobjects – Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World”, de Timothy Morton. Para Morton, um “hiperobjeto” é um fenómeno ou acontecimento cuja dimensão no espaço e no tempo é tão grande que ultrapassa a nossa compreensão, ou então algo que aparentemente julgamos controlar, mas que num futuro próximo (ou distante) pode dar origem a consequências completamente inesperadas.»
Hyper.object foi assim o nome dado ao projeto por si criado em 2019 e que junta outros dois veteranos da cena lisboeta da música livremente improvisada – o contrabaixista Hernâni Faustino (computando, com Pinheiro, dois terços do inescapável RED trio) e o manipulador de eletrónicas Carlos Santos – a dois músicos jovens, mas que há muito ultrapassaram com distinção a barreira das promessas: o trompetista João Almeida e o baterista João Valinho. Depois de ter tocado com estes dois últimos noutros contextos, o pianista pensou em Faustino para se lhes juntar, inicialmente em quarteto; após alguns ensaios surgiu o convite a Santos para integrar o grupo. Antes da pandemia, reuniam-se frequentemente para sessões de trabalho em conjunto; depois, os encontros passaram a acontecer apenas nos momentos em que os confinamentos eram aligeirados. Foi numa destas aberturas (em setembro de 2020) que a formação gravou este que é o seu registo de estreia, sugestivamente intitulado “inter.independence”, com selo da Phonogram Unit, editora que continua a erguer um catálogo notável.
O quinteto – apetece considerar sexteto, dado o relevantíssimo papel desempenhado por um sexto e decisivo elemento, o silêncio – definiu como premissa central para a gravação que cada um dos cinco músicos, para além de ter total liberdade para improvisar e escolher o que tocar, se focasse ativamente no desenvolvimento das suas ideias e não em processos de ação-reação e de diálogo com os demais. A ideia do grupo passava por experimentar a criação de várias camadas sonoras individuais e independentes que interagissem entre si de modo orgânico e gerador de tensões, não pelo volume, mas pelo espaço e pelos silêncios: «Sugeri-lhes que cada um tentasse escolher uma ideia, por muito contrastante que fosse, e que cada um se fixasse nessa ideia e a desenvolvesse até ao limite. Pretendia-se conseguir a criação de várias camadas, cada uma independente das outras, de maneira a que as interações entre estas camadas pudessem aparecer naturalmente quer de uma forma inesperada quer de uma forma mais consciente.» «Falámos várias vezes em não ter receio de assumir o silêncio como uma parte fundamental na música que estávamos a criar e em tentar seguir ao máximo a ideia da inter-independência mesmo quando o discurso de cada um aparentemente não se ligava de uma forma mais imediata», acrescenta Pinheiro.
A música que aqui escutamos estrutura-se, ainda, em torno de duas dimensões contrastantes: a criada pelos instrumentos acústicos, mais evidente, e a eletrónica, mais “artificial” e habitando nos interstícios. Cada músico aporta elementos dos respetivos backgrounds, sejam no jazz, na música erudita contemporânea, na livre improvisação não-idiomática, mas também no rock, na música eletrónica, na música étnica.
A abrir a função, “glitch” tem sons eletrónicos a antecederem a enérgica entrada em cena dos demais instrumentos; o piano borbulhante, o trompete focado, a secção rítmica a fornecer a voltagem necessária. De atmosfera mais introspetiva, muito por conta das notas rarefeitas propostas pelo piano, “low” traz trompete sussurrado a desenhar apontamentos melódicos, percussão minuciosa, com Faustino a explorar os confins do seu instrumento (usando preferencialmente o arco) e eletrónicas subtis e eficazes. “glue”, onde a referida “inter-independência” se revela de forma mais evidente, transporta-nos de início para uma dimensão tranquila, adquirindo densidade crescente, com todos os instrumentos e suas relações cruzadas a contribuírem equitativamente para o todo sonoro.
“loss” assume um caráter mais fragmentado, hiperdetalhado, com todos os sons no sítio certo, resultando numa peça de forte teor imagético, metamorfoseando-se em distintas atmosferas. Em “glow”, a peça mais longa e, direi, mais jazzística de todas, menção é devida à notabilíssima prestação do trompetista, elevando as suas linhas sobre o piano de travo monkiano de Pinheiro e uma seçcão rítmica assertiva. “last”, onde a harmonia prevalece, é o perfeito epílogo para o que escutáramos até aqui, com o piano esparso interpelado pelo contrabaixo e pelas notas longas de trompete, com sons eletrónicos a complementarem o quadro sonoro com propósito e inteligência; Faustino recorre de novo ao arco e adiciona gravidade.
“inter.independence” é um álbum deveras desafiante, que reclama vagar para se fruir na plenitude. António Branco
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hyper.object é o quinteto de Rodrigo Pinheiro (piano), Carlos Santos (electrónica), Hernâni Faustino (contrabaixo), João Valinho (bateria) e João Almeida (trompete), colectivo que claramente seguiu um programa neste trabalho de estreia. Explica-se tudo nas notas: “Em inter.independence a premissa definida para a sessão de gravação foi que, além de todos os músicos terem total liberdade para improvisar e escolher as suas ideias musicais, deveria haver um foco activo para cada um desenvolver as suas ideias individualmente e não reagir imediatamente ou dialogar directamente com os outros músicos do grupo. O que estava a ser experimentado era a criação de várias camadas individuais e independentes que interagissem organicamente, para que a tensão surgisse através das texturas e das interacções esperadas e inesperadas criadas entre estas diferentes camadas de que cada músico estava a tratar”.
E para entender um pouco melhor o ponto de partida para a gravação que decorreu no Timbuktu Studio a 20 de Setembro de 2020 (com Carlos Santos aos comandos dos microfones e gravador) nada como procurar o significado de hiperobjecto: o termo, criado por Timothy Morton no livro Hyperobjects – Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World (Minnesota University Press), significa “um objecto ou evento cujas dimensões no espaço e no tempo são enormes em relação a uma vida humana, por exemplo, um buraco negro, a floresta amazónica, um campo petrolífero, e especialmente o clima”. Ou seja, Pinheiro e companhia criaram aqui um conjunto de orgânicas propostas individuais que ao longo de quase 50 minutos se vão quase imperceptivelmente cruzando e interligando desenhando no processo um corpo coeso, embora absolutamente livre em termos musicais, sem estrutura aparente, sem pulso definido, mas de densidade absoluta.
Há nestes músicos uma clara divisão geracional: Rodrigo, Hernâni e Carlos são, como eles mesmos se apresentam, veteranos da cena lisboeta de improvisação livre ao passo que os “Joões” Almeida e Valinho são bem mais jovens. E isso poderia significar dois posicionamentos distintos, duas abordagens informadas por diferentes culturas e experiências. E embora isso possa de facto ser um factor, a força da premissa original é tamanha que funciona como uma espécie de “igualizador”, dando a cada um dos indivíduos aqui presentes um mesmo ponto de partida. E isso rende uma música altamente abstracta, funda, não-idiomática, auralmente próxima de alguma música de câmara contemporânea e verdadeiramente experimental. Aqui tudo se faz de subtileza, como se nascesse do próprio silêncio e a ele aspirasse: “clusters” de notas no piano em cascata constante, um quase “invisível” fio electrónico que serpenteia entre os restantes sons, um contrabaixo que nos deixa ouvir cordas e madeira, uma bateria que se expõe em espasmos sem nunca atropelar os restantes sons e um expressivo trompete enredado num solilóquio expressionista, largando gotas de sons que escorrem para uma ampla tela e que resultam num festim colorido tão complexo quanto indiscritível. Será buraco negro ou floresta tropical, combustível fóssil ou casulo climático o que aqui nos envolve? É música que pede atenção e nos dá a recompensa da permanente surpresa. Rui Miguel Abreu
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The Portuguese hyper.object quintet was formed in 2019 by three veterans from the Lisbon’s vibrant, free improvised scene – pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro and double bass player Hernâni Faustino (both from the sorely missed RED trio, and both play in José Lencastre NAU Quartet, in the Clocks & Clouds quartet and in Lisbon Freedom Unit) and Carlos Santos on the electronics, with two young musicians – trumpeter João Almeida and drummer João Valinho. Pinheiro, who initiated this quintet, was influenced by the book of American environmental philosopher Timothy Morton, «Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World» (University of Minnesota Press, 2013), which claims that hyperobjects phenomena or events in space and time, like global warming, become visible during an age of ecological crisis, but alert humans to the ecological dilemmas defining the age in which they live. Morton’s ideas also inspired Björk’s song «Hyperballad».
The debut album of this quintet, «inter.independence», was recorded in one of the openings of the covid-19 frequent lockdowns at Timbuktu Studio in Lisbon in September 2020. The premise defined for the recording session is captured by the album title and opted for free, individual, and, obviously, free improvised articulations over a collective and aesthetics. The desired focus of this session demanded from each musician develop his own ideas individually and not immediately react or engage in direct dialog with the other musicians of the quintet. hyper.object wanted to offer a complex, layered dynamics that would interact organically, «so the tension would arise by the textures and the expected and unexpected interactions created between these different layers».
With, or without this experimental premise, the outcome suggests that hyper.object already established its own sonic identity as a working band. These gifted musicians know that the music always comes first, whether they play urgent and percolating improvisation like the opening «glitch» or experiment on the following pieces «low», «loss», «glow» and «last» with more fragmented, free-form, slow-cooking yet introspective textures. These improvisations often employ silence as a fundamental building element and offer poetic dynamics that stress a rare kind of deep listening. Eyal Hareuveni
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As the title suggests, this Portuguese quintet’s intention was to concentrated on their individual improvisations without immediately reacting to or engaging with each other, layering five discrete performances in real time to spark unexpected moments of synchronicity. They all clearly have very good intuitive ears because the results are surprisingly coherent and convincing. The opening track “Glitch” is a brief burst of dense free jazz but it works best when there’s more wriggle room; “Low” starts with ponderous arco bass and quiet undertow of percussion over which João Almeida toots radiates warm piano ripples and Carlos Santo’s burbling electronics bubbles up like a puddle of hot volcanic mud. Daniel Spicer (wire magazine)
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Improwizacja otwarcia trwa niewiele ponad trzy minuty i zgrabnie łączy elektroniczne frazy z open jazzowymi, dynamicznymi i jakże akustycznymi improwizacjami. Utwór zwie się Glitch, co świetnie oddaje elektroakustyczną aurę nagrania. Kolejne części mają już zdecydowanie bardziej rozbudowaną formę. Druga zaczyna się kontrabasowym syczkiem. W tle kapie woda (z laptopa?), coś oddycha (trąbka!), ktoś dotyka krawędzi werbla. Spokojna, swobodna improwizacja z basem na czele, której zdecydowanie bliżej do kameralnej ciszy niż jazzowego zgiełku – łkająca trąbka, piano z klawisza, odrobina perkusyjnych preparacji. Całość z czasem lekko się nadyma, nie bez udziału elektronicznej chmury, zawieszonej w tle. Trzecia opowieść w fazie startu tkana jest z drobiazgów – dźwięków arco & pizzicato, trębackich preparacji (brawo!), niebanalnych uderzeń w czarne i białe klawisze, tudzież perkusyjnych ozdobników. Całkiem abstrakcyjna improwizacja, znów nieco oddalona od jazzowego idiomu początku. Kolektywna opowieść, ledwie muskana syntetycznymi zdobieniami.
W kolejnej części słyszymy elektronikę już od samego początku, gdy buduje efektowną, ale bardzo delikatną ścianę ambientu. Akustyczne frazy open jazzu świetnie konweniują z taką strukturą – post-klasyczne frazy piano, lśniące talerze, ciepła, ale niepokojąca trąbka, równie delikatny bas. Muzycy snują leniwą opowieść, zadają sobie pytania i otrzymują zgrabne odpowiedzi. Ponadgatunkowa ballada pachnie kameralistyką z racji świetnej roboty smyczka, ale wraz ze wzrostem dynamiki osiąga parametry swobodnego jazzu. Duże brawa za te chwile dla pianisty! Piątej opowieści stawiamy najwyższą ocenę w zestawie, nie tylko dlatego, że jest najdłuższa (prawie trzynaście minut). Zaczyna się bardzo minimalistycznie – prychanie trąbki, pojedyncze klawisze piana i szelest elektroniki na backgroundzie. Na flankach szeleszczą perkusjonalne akcesoria, być może także pudło rezonansowe kontrabasu ma w tym swój udział. Narrację właściwą prowadzi trąbka, wspierana pomrukiem smyczka. Całość efektownie narasta także dzięki coraz aktywniejszemu drummingowi. Na moment piano milknie, a akustyczne trio sięga po emocje free jazzu. Potem dostajemy trio bez trąbki i obserwujemy efektowny skok w bezmiar stylowego open jazzu, aż po drobne spiętrzenie dramaturgiczne. Trąbka powraca na final i reasumuje dokonania całego kwintetu. Finałowa improwizacja, to szyta wewnętrzną harmonią post-jazzowa ballada, zdobiona zarówno mrocznymi, jak i dużo jaśniejszymi barwami. Miękka akustyka i zmysłowa poświata elektroniki, głęboko osadzony smyczek i rzewne frazy trąbki. Zakończenie niesie całe pokłady spokoju i wyciszenia. Andrzej Nowak
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The premise defined for this recording session was clear; each member of the quintet was “to develop their ideas individually and to not immediately react or engage in direct dialog with the other musicians from the group.” Did they succeed? Absolutely not, and that is what ultimately makes inter.independence a success as a free improvised recording. Hyper.object comprised bassist Hernâni Faustino and pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro from the acclaimed Red Trio plus the electronics of Carlos Santos, trumpeter João Almeida, and drummer João Valinho. Although the quintet sounds as if they have been collaborating for decades, this is their first recording as a unit. It bears a stoic sound, patient in its approach with a command of space and silence as its strategy.
The instruction to not engage is evidenced in the opening “Glitch” which ramps into a maelstrom of sounds. Sizzling electronics bump into irregular beats and a gambol of piano notes. After the opener, the directive breaks down or, better said, the music congeals. Try as they might to walk separate paths, the music always comes together. “Low” and “Glue” trade in minimal sounds, water dripping, arco bow strikes on strings, busy percussion, probing trumpet and piano attack. The space allotted by the musicians accomplishes the opposite of dividing; it in fact unites the sound. The longest track, “Glow,” at thirteen minutes, opens with the popping sounds of Almeida’s trumpet backed by the pecked piano of Pinheiro. As the track progresses, the quintet germinates its sound first with little gestures before blossoming up into an intense free generator. Even the quietus of “Last” has a congruence by way of its restraint. Try as they might, the quintet’s music always comes together here. Mark Corroto
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After “Má Estrela” and “Mata Mata”, this album with electronics is without a doubt the most jazzy in the series, even to the extent that at times it’s hard to even discern the electronics.
The band consists of Rodrigo Pinheiro on piano, João Almeida on trumpet, Carlos Santos on electronics, Hernâni Faustino on double bass, and João Valinho on drums. Pinheiro and Faustino and two thirds of the brilliant RED trio, and Almeida and Valinho have been part of several reviews on our blog in various ensembles, and Carlos Santos got a special post last year for his collaboration with the Creative Sources label. To hear them all together here, and in great shape, is a real treat.
The music is freely improvised during the scarce moments when lockdown was lifted last year. The title “Inter.Independence” refers to the performing concept of the band, “that all musicians have complete freedom to improvise and to choose what to play, there should be an active focus for each one to develop their ideas individually and to not immediately react or engage in direct dialog with the other musicians on the group. What was being experimented was the creation of several individual and independent layers that would interact organically, so that the tension would arise by the textures and by the expected and unexpected interactions created between these different layers that each musician was taking care of“. This being said, the music still appears to be very cohesive despite the almost absolute freedom of each musician, with lots of respect and open space to expand their own ideas.
This is without a doubt one of the best albums I’ve heard this year. The quality of the playing is excellent, the sense of surprise and joy makes the attentive listener anticipate the unpredictable evolution of their ‘in.coherent’ narratives. The instrumental wizzardry is combined with smart musical ideas and deep emotional expressivity. Whether it’s the quality of the musicians or the value of their concept, their music has a wonderful freshness from beginning to end.
Don’t miss it. Stef Gijssels