Continuing his fruitful relationship with Discrepant, Tiago Sousa returns with two longform pieces for organ.
A self-explanatory title in itself, "A Thousand Strings" drifts fluidly into a celestial realm of cascading melodies and cycling patterns that never feel forced or strict throughout its two hypnotic tracks. Pulsating with life and ecstatic abandon.
Taking cues from the tradition of American minimalists like Steve Reich and, particularly,
Terry Riley, the Portuguese composer's work flows with a life of his own, that, while acknowledging those influences, transcends them into his own signature. On the A side, 'A Thousand Strings' goes seamlessly from intertwining crepuscular harmonies to ascending keyboard runs in the manner of 'Persian Surgery Dervishes' finishing with a coda of rhythmic marimba-like pulses. On the flipside, 'The Things Passed' creates this maze-like tapestry of melodies that seem to drift apart only to converge back again into its internal process before setting on sustained tones infused with a sense of longing. For all things passed. For what is yet to come.
Tiago Sousa is a Portuguese self-taught pianist and composer, building a markedly minimalist and contemporary path. Accustomed to composing with the desire to search and discover, in a process of constant evolution that happens in an open and shareable way, his music exists as a relatable, genuine and honest event. Tiago Sousa uses, in complement to his compositions for piano, the electric organ, which reveals a decisively sonic motivation, influenced by the American minimalism of the 60s, in particular
Terry Riley, Steve Reich or Philip Glass.
