Poster by Loé Duval (@barwouf)
For the first time, Ekumen ventures out of Brussels: we are happy to announce our collaboration with STUK and we invite you to Leuven on Wednesday the 6th of November to witness the Belgian live premiere of Rafael Toral's masterpiece: Spectral Evolution.
To start off the evening, we also appointed the surprising electro-acoustic strings duo of Clara Levy and Stéphane Clor: L'oriole.
Tickets are available for presale on STUK's website: stuk.be.
Warning: the concerts will be seated and behind closed doors, please make sure to arrive on time to the venue.
Timetable
20:00 — doors20:15 — L'oriole (Clara Levy & Stéphane Clor)
21:15 — Spectral Evolution (Rafael Toral)
Rafael Toral
The artist Rafael Toral, photographed by Vera Marmelo.
Rafael Toral is a Portuguese guitarist and composer who has been active since the 1990s, but his latest release, Spectral Evolution is, without a doubt, his magnum opus. Presented to the world after long years of solitary labour, the album manages to marry the two opposite sides of his sound palette. On one hand, the warm, lush and pensive guitar drones that characterised his early releases; on the other, the fizzy and precisely alien bleeps coming out of his arsenal of homemade electronic instruments, patiently crafted throughout his Space Program. Designed as a kind of garden inhabited by a ‘‘chaotic mess of weeds’’ that seem like they're organically growing out of the ‘‘harmonic ground’’ of guitar chords, the album successfully conveys the complexity and deep mystery of a living ecosystem. Despite being an ambitious summary of Toral's oeuvre, Spectral Evolution is nonetheless first and foremost a visceral and transformative experience, engulfing the listener into its warm embrace. Toral will perform this magistral album for the first time live in Belgium.
Recommended reading
Long interview with Rafael Toral about the making of Spectral Evolution, his Space Program, his life in Portugal, etc.: toneglow.substack.com.
An extract of the seventh chapter of Yves Citton's Ecology of Attention (translation by Barnaby Norman, 2017, Polity Press), which appears to us as resonating particularly well with Rafael Toral's work: ekumen.be/pdf/Citton_en.pdf.
Recommended listening
Rafael Toral, Spectral Evolution (Moikai, 2024).
Rafael Toral, Sound Mind Sound Body (AnAnAnA, 1994/Drag City, 2018).
Artist's links
Official website: rafaeltoral.net
Instagram: @rtoral333
Bandcamp: rafaeltoral.bandcamp.com
L'oriole
The artists Clara Levy & Stéphane Clor, photographed by Louise Vind Nielsen at Q-O2 in Brussels.
L’oriole is the duo of Clara Levy (violin) and Stéphane Clor (violoncello piccolo). They mix the string colors from the violin and cello with a timbral mechanism made of ‘transducers’ – little speakers – set on sounding bodies. The sound of the acoustic instruments vibrates through different materials, offering new possibilities of colors and textures drawn from these suspended resonators. Eery and acute, the music thus flutters in long contemplative flights and sometimes condensate in clouds of screams and raw materials.
Recommended listening
L'oriole, Post-residency concert at Q-O2 (self-released, 2023).
Artists' links
Clara Levy's official website: clara-levy.com
Clara Levy's Instagram: @claralev.y
Stéphane Clor's website: stephaneclor.net
Stéphane Clor's Instagram: @stephane_c_l_o_r
Stéphane Clor's Bandcamp: stephcl.bandcamp.com