invisible light

These are the first two releases by a new label from Wroclaw, Poland and the first one is by
Alfredo Costa Monteiro, who is no stranger to these pages. The music here, two pieces of 19:49
and 19:43 minutes can be seen as a document to an eight-hour concert that Monteiro did in 2017
in the old cinema hall of Sokolowsko during the Sanatorium Dzwieko festival. The idea was to
see how such a duration would alter the sense and understanding of the listener. This record
takes it out of that context and I am not sure why that was done. I can easily imagine an SD card
release with eight hours of music (see last week’s release by Calineczka, for instance). But, all
right, it is what it is and the release is beautifully packed in a bigger envelope with pictures taken
in an abandoned house and printed as if they were X-rays; probably the connection tonight in the
old cinema. Monteiro lists no instruments for this release, other than ‘electro-acoustics’. These
might include light sensors, so I was thinking and by changing the amount of voltage the sound
input changes? I am not sure, but it could very well be such a thing. The music in both pieces is
on such a drift, moving elegantly back and forth between quiet and loud shifts of the material.
Perhaps it doesn’t matter if this is the short version of an eight-hour concert as the circumstances
aren’t the same either; at home, one can adjust listening positions and pause them, unlike in a
concert situation. Therefore this CD should be approached as a release for home entertainment
and it works very well. Monteiro’s power drones versus ambient silence work great in a collage
form here; there are some great abrupt changes in the music that interrupt the flow but which
makes the music for home entertainment much more interesting; an excellent release!