For the past two decades, Portuguese electronic composer Vitor Joaquim has worked in a number of mediums. Besides music, he also likes to create works of video, dance, theatre and multimedia installations. Latest release bearing his name, “Flow” is a strangely restrained affair that tickles the ears. In fact, it doesn’t just tickle, his sounds mostly tease. He’s excellent at producing paradigm shifts of subtle force. Atmospherics created through random TV sounds, guitars and occasional vocals are as disturbing as they are revelatory. Besides the frequent changes in landscapes – from a high-pitched drone of the TV set to subtle processed guitars [played by EmÃdio Buchinho and Joăo Hora] – Joaquim prefers to employ a grating sound – this is the sound of something that is rough around the edges. Nothing clean can be heard in this work. If anything, it’s mucky and jagged with a mind of its own. How do you reconcile squeaky assaults of noise with recordings of a TV? How do you merge low humming voice [provided by Filipa Hora] with that of static sound? He certainly mastered his laptop as a fully operational instrument. Glitches and pops, the hums and the flows are like family members at a picnic. Unique to the point of extremes and beautifully obtuse, “Flow” does anything but flow.
Tom Sekowski