Resenha de Marcelo Trotta no site progressiverockbr/previews2014.htm ALEX FRIAS - Innprata Alex Frias is a guitarist, technician, and producer who lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He grew up attending to several home musical events called Serestas, full of great musicians playing brilliantly improvisational Brazilian music (a.k.a. Chorinho). Later he discovered the electric & electronic side of music, and was seduced by the electric guitar, which became the central instrument of his musical career. Alex Frias is fascinated by vintage guitars, analogical equipment, exotic acoustic string instruments, and also by the high-tech novelties that modern electronic music can offer, like the looping-modeling devices, which, in his view, create unlimited artistic possibilities for extant musicians as himself. The focus of his work – that he pursues with a religious fervor – is based on the experimental opposition of acoustic against electronic elements – resulting in a musical contrast that allows him to reach higher levels of emotional expression. Innprata is his solo project, created to be the vehicle for his musical quest. Besides Innprata, Alex Frias also plays on “Son de Giraffe” (Prog-Rock quartet), “Luz da Asia” (big band of World Music), “YBY”, “Avalanche”, and “Aliança Carioca de Violões” (acoustic guitar trio linked to “Robert Fripps Guitar Circle”). Alex Frias first solo CD was “Manual do Bebê” (January 2001), a 4-track EP that brings lullabies for babies. “Innprata” was a more ambitious and experimental solo work: a full-length album that was recorded in January 2002, but released only in 2014 (via independent label ViaInterior Records). The CD is available on both digital and physical formats on Alex Frias website, and has guest appearance of several musicians (see below). The CD version of “Innprata” features 12 tracks, recorded with an excellent sound production. The music is a mix of Ambient, New Age, and Electronic Progressive Music, with elements of World Music (mainly Afro-Brazilian and Indian). The sonority is delicate, relaxing, and introspective. The vast arsenal of guitars that Frias has employed on the album, combined with the exotic string and percussive instruments performed by the guest musicians, provided the music with a rich collection of textures and ethnical rhythms, resulting in tracks that sound very different one from the other. Listeners who are interested in the meditative-inducing aspects of Ambient & New Age music will love the contemplative “Kadish” (06:48) (driven by the soft plucking of a swarmandal and a silken guitar melody that rises slowly); the slow “Auto Retrato” (04:43) (driven by a relaxing, but groovy, bass and acoustic guitars); and the futuristic “Ultramarine” (10:36) (with echoing glassy sounds and slide guitars superposed to electronic keyboards, it has a cinematographic amplitude that recalls “Tangerine Dream”, “Eno”, “Vangelis”). Listeners who prefer World Music with emphasis on Indian ethnic-sounding style will like “Monkeys Monk” (05:21) (a flute & sitar duo driven by the tanz and Gopi yantra, recalling “Ravi Shankar”) and the imposing “Neon Delli” (07:27) (a blend of electronic-generated drones and melodic acoustic guitars closed in a psychedelic ambience that sounds like a mix of “Ravi Shankar” and “Yatha Sidhra”). The Brazilian tradition is heard on the sad tracks “Silverland” (03:51) (that irradiates a nostalgic feeling from the “cavaquinho” strings) and “A Espera” (04:49) (an acoustic guitar tune accompanied by soft fretless bass) - both with influences of our Portuguese cultural colonization; and also on “Lullaby” (02:10), a ballad featuring the sweet voice of Helena Frias, who recalls the emblematic “Bossa Nova” singer “Nara Leão”). By contrast, the miscegenation of Brazilian roots is exposed on the vivid “Gnose” (02:37), which adds African rhythms and choirs to Amerindian flutes and beats (recalling Brazilian group “Uakti”). Finally, fans of more oriented Progressive Music will prefer the tracks “Cool Flame” (03:21), which has acoustic guitars and a few keyboards supporting an electric guitar solo (slightly recalling “14 Bis”), and the mysterious “Darshan” (05:06), which features a duo of acoustic and electric guitars, and Frias making vocals (as on “Sagrado Coração da Terra” and “Milton Nascimento”, it has an imaginary link that evokes the beauty of Brazilian’s Nature). The sacred-sounding “Innprata” comes as a bonus hidden track, closing the album. A great work in the style of Ambient, New-Age and Electronic oriented World Music, “Innprata” impressed us for its refined sound production and varied musical menu, being highly recommended for fans of names as diverse as “Brian Eno”, “Tangerine Dream”, “Klaus Schulze”, “Vangelis”, “Popol Vuh”, “Yatha Sidhra”, “Mike Oldfield”, “Philip Glass”, “Andreas Vollenweider”, “Aldo Pinelli”, “Alpha III”, and so on. Band members and collaborators involved in Alex Frias are: Alex Frias – Electric, Synth, Reverse, Looping, Fuzz, Slide, E-Slide, Drone, Acoustic, Tremolo, and E-Bow Guitars, Looped & Electronic Percussion, Drum Programming, Fender Rhodes, Keyboards, Synths (flutes, voices, cymbals), “Cavaquinho”, Wind Chimes, Finger Bell; Voice. Guest musicians: Silvia Brasil - Swarmandal (tr. 1), Flutes, Tanz, Gopi Yantra (tr.4) Flutes and Tibetan Bell (tr.5); Pedro Peres - Fretless Bass (tr.2, 8); Cláudio Cepeda - Fretless Bass (tr.9); Mit Mujalli - Sitar (tr.4); Márcio Rocha - 12-String Craviola (tr.6); Rô Favilla - Shakers (tr.7); Helena Frias - Voice (tr.9); Eduardo Agni - Acoustic Guitar (tr.10); Alexandre Loureiro - Ghatam & Triangles (tr.10); Paulo Freitas - Classical Guitar (tr.11). Album Produced, Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Alex Frias at Meteoro Studio, 2000 to 2002, except for “Ultramarine” and “Gnose”, recorded at Control Bedroom, 1992, and mastered at Meteoro Studio in 2002... (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)
Posted on: Mon, 02 Jun 2014 04:06:17 +0000
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