Built in the 1940s, Estrada Nacional 2 is 720km long and spans the length of Portugal, from Chaves in the north to Faro on the southern Atlantic coast. Vasco Alves cycled the route in summer 2020, across 8 days and documented the names of each town and village by recording them on his phone. The tracks are named in accordance with the distance travelled each day and the town name presented in chronological order.
These words are set against a utilitarian set up of synthesis and rhythm. We hear a familiar set of sounds across each track, though Alves has a way of adding, subtracting and layering them, to create new spaces and situations for each composition. The music clicks and stutters, like the sound of a bicycle changing gears. The tracks are awash with bass tone and static texture, which recall his earlier, radio focussed work. It’s hard to draw comparisons with this music, moments from of Mika Vainio’s Ø project and Muslimgauze’s ‘Azzazzin’ come to mind, though Alves has conjured a unique world of absorbing sound which exudes a sense of focus and introspection.
Vasco Alves is a musician from Lisbon, Portugal. His work explores the physicality of sound through the use of electronic and acoustic processes, including synthesis and amplification techniques, and the gaita de fole (Portuguese bagpipes). He is a member of VA AA LR with Adam Asnan and Louie Rice, known for their electroacoustic works and radical performance - live shows have included the use of distress flares and wheeling the PA through the audience. His solo music has been released by We Can Elude Control and After Action Review, who in 2020 released Gaita Contra Computador - a set of works for gaita de fole and computer. For this album Alves pares back his tools, using synthesiser and voice across 8 pieces, which act as an imaginary audio diary to his cycle journey along the Estrada Longa.
"Part experimental audio diary, part road movie and part psychogeographic meditation, Estrada Longa is an absorbing work of chiselled, enveloping sound and haunting textual exploration" - Fielding Hope, Cafe Oto
