Cloudy Skies collects fourteen short, spontaneous improvisations that morph into instant compositions of the Portuguese sax hero José Lencastre and guitarist-producer Flak (aka João Pires de Campos). The album was recorded over multiple sessions at Flak’s studio in Alfarim, south of Lisbon. Flak also took the cover photo.
The unplanned and open-ended sessions allowed the music to develop naturally through deep listening and mutual respect. The concise, mostly sparse pieces focus on distinct moods, rely on instinct, contrast, and mutual awareness. Lencastre plays both alto and tenor saxes, bringing a strong melodic sensibility, tonal variety, and dynamic range. Flak acts as an agent provocateur who attempts to push Lencastre from his comfort zone with sharp and thorny guitar lines, distorted effects, and unpredictable shifts. But Lencastre and Flak complement each other, and the music flows organically, juggling gently with tension and release, silence and density. It is an imaginative, evocative piece of music that is free from clichés.
Substantial also attempts to push outside of comfort zones. This time, fellow Portuguese multi-instrumentalist-producer-guitarist and founder of the Profound Whatever musicians’ collective and label, João Clemente, who plays here on synths and electronics, prepared abstract and exploratory soundscapes. Lerncastre, on alto and tenor saxes, improvised remotely on these soundscapes, using one take for each soundscape. often shifting their focus and direction to newer sonic territories. Later, Clemente edited, mixed, and mastered the meticulous layered pieces.
The music sounds intuitive, urgent, even in its most quiet moments, and poetic as if it were flowing in real-time in an intimate space and unhurried atmosphere. Clemente and Lencaste found a genre-defying, common language that explores and reflects on hidden nuances in each other’s sonic palette and has suggestive cinematic qualities. There are brief references to reductionist electronica, Ayler-ian free jazz, noise, and dark and symphonic ambient, but Substantial refuses to surrender to stylistic constraints.
Eyal Hareuveni
José Lencastre (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone), FLAK (guitar), João Clemente (synthesizers, electronics)
