Toda un Alegría

It's very difficult to pigeonhole the music of Barcelona's Adriano Galante, although ‘understated Hispanophone quietism with a very distant nod to bossa nova’ might be some sort of description. However, it gives little to no sense of what the music is actually like, partly because there is so little there. Not that this is in any way a criticism – the bareness of the music requires tremendously close attention. In fact, listening on headphones is almost exhausting, as so much of importance takes place in the background: barely audible flute roulades, tiny scratching noises, snatches of electronic sounds or piano licks that seem to have crept in from another song altogether are layered in an unsettling, fragmentary collage. The development of the songs is equally mysterious, as in ‘De Ti, De Todo’, which starts with a muted guitar boogie and strays into a constellation of multi-tracked vocals and unexplained gaps in the soundscape. Galante's close-miked voice, a high light tenor, sometimes shifting into countertenor territory is by turns confiding and disturbing. Many songs are short, but a lot happens during their brief minutes. This music demands work from its listener, but amply repays the effort.