Rafael Toral, born in Lisbon, 1967 has been intrigued by the potential of sound and the functions of music since he was a teenager. As a producer, composer and performer, he has been deeply involved with rock, ambient, contemporary, electronic and free jazz music in different periods of his life. Working with electric guitar and electronics, in the 1990’s he pioneered a blend of ambient and rock and recorded acclaimed albums like Wave Field or Violence of Discovery and Calm of Acceptance. By the early 2000’s he arrived to a sense of accomplishment about his previous 15 years of work, also realizing the world needed a different creative response. In a transition to vulnerable action, he launched the alien-sounding Space Program in 2004, using experimental electronic instruments. It was an ambitious long-term project exploring an approach to electronic music based on silence, through decision making and physical gesture, in a way inspired by post-free Jazz.
In the ensuing 15 years and beyond, he practiced an understanding of silence as “space”, with a clear function in music creation but also as a metaphor for social relationships and a stance on information and sensory overload. In 2017, having concluded the Space Program’s recording series, the release of Moon Field marks the beginning of transition to a new phase, in a way that builds on recent developments (mainly with the Space Quartet) but also integrates them with other elements. Returning to the electric guitar with a renewed interest in harmony, Toral synthesized all of the above on the newest Spectral Evolution album, released in February 2024. Performing solo or in numerous collaborations (including Jim O’Rourke, Jim Baker, Sei Miguel, Chris Corsano, John Edwards, Evan Parker, Tatsuya Nakatani, Manuel Mota, Alvin Lucier, Phill Niblock, Christian Marclay, Sonic Youth, Rhys Chatham, Lee Ranaldo, Eiko Ishibashi, and many others), he has been touring throughout Europe, Canada, USA, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.