Rafael Toral

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙅𝙞𝙢 𝙊'𝙍𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙠𝙚'𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙈𝙤𝙞𝙠𝙖𝙞 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙨, '𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙀𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣' 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙋𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙜𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙍𝙖𝙛𝙖𝙚𝙡 𝙏𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙡, 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙡𝙗𝙪𝙢 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙡, 𝙟𝙖𝙯𝙯-𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙧 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡. 𝙐𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙-𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙨𝙮𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙, 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙡-𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨, 𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙝, 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙨, 𝙂𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣 𝘽𝙧𝙮𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙍𝙝𝙮𝙨 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙢 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙥𝙞𝙚𝙘𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚.

Toral's been through a number of discrete phases since he emerged in the early '90s with 'Sound Mind Sound Body' and 'Wave Field', injecting rock's vigour and emotionality into often cold, academic electronic music. Since then he's described his musical outlook as "post-free jazz", and spent time developing his ‘Space Program’, an ensemble of self-built electronic instruments that helped him evolve his understanding of place and silence. Toral drew a line under that project in 2017 after 13 years of experimentation, and has been working to reconcile his past and present, bringing back the guitar and re-examining the glacial, elongated tonal work he investigated early in his career. 'Spectral Evolution' is his most complete and advanced recording in years, billed as his "quintessential album of guitar music" but inhabiting a unique spot in his catalog.

‘Spectral Evolution' is the kind of album that practically urges you to go in again and again to tunnel through its layers and excavate its myriad references and philosophies. It's Toral's most exceptional, essential album to date - the kind of masterpiece worthy of re-booting Moikai to life, the same label that brought us all-timers like Nuno Canavarro's 'Plux Quba', Pita's 'Get Out' and Fennesz's 'Plays'.

An early marker for AOTY, no doubt.