Adrián de Alfonso – Viator (MDR084)

Adrián de Alfonso – Viator (MDR084)  (LP/Digital)

ORDER LP/Digital from Bandcamp

out November 8th, 2024

“Viator” is as skeletal as it is instantly recognizable. Following the inception of the unmistakable post-power electronics cubist-Latin-blues that kept Adrián de Alfonso busy during his Don The Tiger days, the first album under his own name is a ruthless step forward into a new form of avant-garde balladry, raw and stripped down, poetic yet enchanting, anchored in a sort of stubborn and repetitive primitivism, which synthesizes the future rituals of a stateless tradition.

“Viator” consists mainly of a series of frayed ballads and deformed instrumental miniatures, underpinned by the heavy swing that intertwines Adrian de Alfonso’s lyrical coplera vocals and improviser Mike Majkowski‘s rubbery double bass, which is often drained of its acoustic nature through computer and tape manipulations.

The record takes on an extra sheen from the slow heels of crooked dancer Siri Salminen, Andi Stecher‘s pulsating membranes, the murmuring choir composed of Víctor Herrero, Lorena Álvarez and Marcos Flórez, and the arachnid shreds of de Alfonso’s unamplified midi guitar.

This is material that draws deeply on flamenco, copla, bolero, tango and sardana, but is transfigured into the uncanny by Adrián’s relentless use of FM transmission, unhinged sampling/midi techniques, musique concrète outbursts, stripped-down chanting and outlandish operatic procedures.

“Viator”- traveller in Latin – was recorded with a bunch of piezos and cheap mics (sometimes with the window open) in de Alfonso’s bedroom in Berlin, in a bathroom (without vents) in the Alpujarra of Granada and in some desert locations around Almería, which allows for an incessant crossfading through time, spaces and membranes. A traveller on the rise, not just flowing through, permeating the space with a new found awareness. 

All music and lyrics by Adrián de Alfonso

Adrián de Alfonso — voice, unplugged midi guitar
Mike Majkowski — double bass
Siri Salminen — tap dance
Andi Stecher — percussion
Malú López-Lafuente — laughter
Víctor Herrero, Lorena Álvarez, Marcos Flórez — choir

Recorded in Berlin, Capileira, El Barranco de la Sangre and La Isleta del Moro by Adrián de Alfonso and Alberto Lucendo
Produced and mixed by Adrián de Alfonso and Alberto Lucendo
Mastered by Norman Nitzsche
Art by Fátima Moreno
Live photo by João Lourenço
Design by Andrea De Franco