Tàlveg

Ferran Fages - electric guitar Marcellí Bayer - baritone and alto saxophone Oriol Roca - drums Tàlveg. Behind this enigmatic name, we find three of the most experienced musicians of the Barcelona scene who, with only three years of work together, have managed to materialise a very personal way of facing improvisation and even transcending it. A very efficient mixture of individuality and common understanding. The method is scrupulous, the forms precise, and the sound generous. They know how to build sonic architectures that go beyond genres and get rid of the need for classification. Sound in its most direct, concise and at the same time, essential sense. But, if we talk about a method, it is precisely because procedure is the cornerstone of this whole building; with implicit boundaries that are never guessed, but which support each gesture and each intervention. The sound circulates as a single flow made of intriguing and captivating textures. The compositions or, perhaps it is better to say, guided improvisations are generated with a careful concentration and a limpid vision of a global sound, which allows room for the interventions and leaves more space for the listener’s interpretation. To allow them to participate fully in the experience. And "space" is the word that curiously comes to mind when listening to this music; and then the word "arid". Although sometimes the space is saturated, we sense that it is with full consciousness; in the same way that this imaginative aridity, sometimes reduced to a few harmonics, is expanded with grunts and bursts that end up flooding the space with sound. The work on listening is absolutely fundamental in this trio. To better distribute energy, each contribution is strategically dispensed; close to the form of an oratorio, but without the solemnity or religiousness that characterises it, each piece alternates possible combinations, not only to better highlight and expand the timbres and atmospheres, but also to not exhaust the global form. This alternation opens up the listening, eliminates expectation and ensures that our attention never lowers its guard. When the storm arrives, it is both beneficial and brutal at the same time; and soon, it becomes a catharsis. Tàlveg possesses the energy of the power trio and, in addition, the intelligence of proportion; each instrument has the necessary space to be able to affirm itself without having to make a place among the others; as if they all had their doors open to manifest themselves, but only at very specific moments. And every time they appear alone, their presence seems unconditional and we never miss the others. Here, structural rigour exceeds the most visceral spirit, without any ostentation; but, even so, there is an organic strength in this structure. An emotionally intense journey on course to discovery, which undoubtedly activates the imagination. Alfredo Costa Monteiro, December 2021