RADIANT by Alfredo Costa Monteiro

ALBUM REVIEW:

"The latest work by Portugal-born, Barcelona-based sound artist Alfredo Costa Monteiro is a nearly hour-long continuous piece “inspired by the idea that subjective simplicity can contain objective complexity.” Seems like an abstract concept, but once you dig into RADIANT you will likely get what Monteiro means. The basic structure here–continuous noise and drone–feels simple, but close listening reveals a complexity that’s almost impossible to fully absorb, at least in one sitting. There are distinct sections embedded here, some confrontational, some meditative, but the density of detail is entrancingly consistent. In other words, you’ll hear a lot of different stuff coursing through RADIANT, but you’ll never hear a reason to stop sitting on the edge of your seat." - Marc Masters, The Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp: April 2024
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-experimental/the-best-experimental-music-on-bandcamp-april-2024
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From Costa Monteiro:

Radiant energy is one of the mechanisms by which energy can enter or leave an open system.

This notion, present in this multilayer composition, where sounds are constantly appearing and disappearing, is the structure of a flowing mass that evolves slowly in its apparent minimal form.

RADIANT is heavily inspired by the idea that subjective simplicity can contain objective complexity, and that sound energy that can be resourced in the creation of a system without hierarchy, and expanding within this apparent contradiction.

The idea's output is music that defies replication.

- Alfredo Costa Monteiro w. Al Jones, March 2024
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Alfredo Costa Monteiro is a sound artist, improvisor, composer and sound poet born in Porto, Portugal. He has been living and working in Barcelona since 1992, when he graduated in sculpture/multimedia at the Paris School of Fine Arts.

His sound pieces are conceived from unstable processes often resulting in a lo-fi character; one can hear in his work a disconcerting simplicity while making inherently phenomenological inquiries.

In sound poetry, his work focuses on the musicality of language pushed to the limit of its phonetic restraints, evicting semantics for the benefit of sound, in a combinatory framework that generates its own architecture. His performances, built from snatches of conversation,can be noisy and polyglot: he uses Portuguese, French, Spanish, Catalan and English to play with perceived intent.

Costa Monteiro has collaborated with numerous musicians, composers, choreographers, video artists, filmmakers, and has presented his work throughout Europe, Canada, the USA, Russia, Mexico, and Japan. He has an extensive discography in solo and collaborative formats.

http://www.costamonteiro.net
Music | https://alfredocostamonteiro.bandcamp.com/
Music | https://montefimer.bandcamp.com/

Marginal Frequency is a small batch record label operating in Kitsap County, WA.