This underground project is equal parts prog rock, jazz, and poetry. With the shabbiness of honesty, ‘sound of sense’ welds the writing of Robert Frost and others to a band of jazz musicians playing straight down the line. Still, this record never feels like a hurried endeavour and is closer to the work of an aged auteur playing through the tempered confidence of time. The album does have its weaker compositions, but the flat notes do not puncture Simões’ charm or the palpable intimacy the musicians have with their music and the poetry. Alexandre Simões will bring the dimly-lit, scantily-attended bar to your ears and evoke images of shrouded artistry.
23/30
A favourite: ‘Green’
This album was published by the S.P.A. (Portuguese Society of Authors). The producer explains that they are “making music from the abstract sound of words, from the enigmatic vitality of speech.” In his words, ‘sound of sense’ features “monosyllables that spill out sounds, spread out sounds, that go on to discovery, self exploration.”
‘sound of sense’ is out now via FLAPI.
100 words music reviews 