M²

2015 release ** "Maria da Rocha's name may not be familiar to jazz and improvised music lovers in Portugal, because this Lisbon-based violinist and violist has worked primarily in the Berlin and Stockholm circuits, and much of her dedication has gone to interpreting the great composers of contemporary, classical, and baroque music. In her own projects, however, she embraces the processes and aesthetics of improvisation, and it was in this context that we heard her at Creative Fest late last year. A solo album, "Bet Rot," is about to be released, but in the meantime, her calling card is this "Pink," a duo with Swedish electronicist Maria W. Horn, aptly named M2. Experimental in nature, the proposed music has an intimate character that clashes with the coordinates of improvisational reductionism and the lowercase trend of electronics and electroacoustics only because each track is made up of many layers and details, generally emerging simultaneously and inviting multiple listenings so we can fully grasp the elements that come together or disperse. Textural and focused on the interplay of timbres, the 10 pieces collected follow no defined pattern: they can stray into the realm of "drone" or be pointillistic, in a gentle approach to noise. Noise? Yes: the organization and treatment of sounds challenge both the conventions of musical beauty and so-called "feminine" creativity, with somewhat harsh arcades on da Rocha's part and digital interactions or interactions that favor dissonance and atonality. Very, very interesting."