The Portuguese artist Rafael Toral has been making expansive guitar-drone music since the mid-'90s. Last year, he released Spectral Evolution, his return to the guitar after years spent inventing his own instruments. Our genre specialist Christopher R. Weingarten chose that record as the best experimental album of 2024. Now, Toral has followed that record with the new single "Layers," a six-minute drone track meant to be performed live.
Toral improvised "Layers" live the the studio, without overdubs, on his modified Fender Jazzmaster. It doesn't really sound like it was made on guitar. Instead, it's a humming, oddly comforting piece of music that feels synthetic and tactile at the same time. The Bandcamp description says that "Layers" is "a live performance piece to be premiered live later in 2025." Check it out below.
