Rafael Toral - Wave Field [2025 CD Edition]

Format: CD
Catalogue No.: DC702CD
Barcode: 0781484070221
Release Date: 27 Jun 2025
Genre: Experimental/Electronic

 In 1987, Rafael Toral began making his own compositions and solo recordings using electric guitar in an enhanced signal path. In the time since then, he has developed his conceptions, first as a guitar improviser, then in what he called his ‘Space Program’, utilizing self-made electronic modules. 2024’s ‘Spectral Evolution’ was a much-acclaimed return to guitar voicings and improvisations, edified by his further explorations in electronic sound.
 In the wake of his extraordinary new music comes a new set of CD masters for Rafael’s first two albums, ‘Sound Mind Sound Body’ and ‘Wave Field’. Nearly 40 years later, these recordings sound remarkably prescient and perfectly timeless - fresher today than when they were first released.
 ‘Sound Mind Sound Body’ was inspired in part by the working principles of Fripp & Eno, extrapolated by Rafael via a unique signal path leading out of his guitar. He paid notice to the massive impact of discreet gestures, creating slow-moving tones and spacious orchestral resonances, drifting and droning with glacial majesty, hardly recognizable as guitar much of the time. The first pieces were recorded in 1987; in 1994, a collection was released on Portugal’s AnAnAnA, producing an hour’s worth of remarkable sonic equilibrium in this mode. With each subsequent reissue, however, aspects of this sound have been subtly revisited. For the 1998 Moikai CD, ‘AE 1’, one of the earliest pieces conceived, was newly recorded; for the 2018 Drag City LP master, ‘Textura e Linhas Curvas’ was included, ‘AER 7 E’ was re-recorded and the material for ‘AE 2’ was recorded for the first time ever. These performances were executed using the same processes as the original ones. For the current CD, ‘Loopability II’ has been recalled from the AnAnAnA master, ‘Textura e Linhas Curvas’ omitted and yet another brand-new version of ‘AER 7E’ inserted in place of the 2018 version. Incredibly, all of these changes augment ‘Sound Mind Sound Body’’s expansive intent without altering its essential otherworldly atmosphere.
 ‘Wave Field’, released in 1995, was a departure from the first album into new composition methods involving the dirty textures of rock guitar, sounding in the open ears of many listeners (like Jim O’Rourke, who issued the disc in the US on dexter’s cigar) as a synthesis of disparate elements - a nexus where Alvin Lucier, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Eno blend together. Here, the clangorous potential of the guitar was emphasized, giving a metallic edge to the two extended pieces and ‘radio edit’ coda. The jacket paid subtle tribute to My Bloody Valentine, which, along with the radio edit, suggested a harmony between musical directions as wildly disparate as minimalist experimental and rock. Today, such a paradoxical intent is more widely considered as a part of the artist's purview. This allows the sounds of ‘Wave Field’ and ‘Sound Mind Sound Body’ to sit perfectly among the forward-reaching music of today - as it continues to evolve in our ears, moving ever towards the next conception of listening space.

‘Wave Field’
Wave Field 5
Wave Field 6
WF Radio Edit