José Torres Trío - (Un)Still Life (2020)

The project has the collaboration of Cristian de Moret on cante and with that of Xema Espinosa on wind instruments.

José Torres Trío has just published his second studio work, (UN) STILL LIFE, a project in which the group has continued the search for its own sound based on flamenco with influences from other musical styles. The work, self-produced, has been an evolution with respect to his first studio album, released in 2013, which aims to avoid labels.

UN (STILL) LIFE speaks of still life as a static concept in art compared to the dynamism and musical visuality that the Trio contributes to each of their compositions. This play on words, “unstill life” as a restless nature, is extensible both to the themes and to the musicians' own interest in looking for new sounds and different melodies.

José Torres Trío maintains flamenco as the basis of his compositions since it is very present both in rhythm, in harmony and in timbre. But they have gone one step further in defining their own sound, achieved by working a lot with textures and in a constant search for all the possibilities of both the instruments and themselves. In recording, instruments have been used to generate acoustic and processed effects, beyond the use of instruments to reproduce notes. The result has been nine cuts with punch, a lot of plasticity, dynamics and expressive variety in which the three musicians play as one, at the service of music, in which the personalities of José Torres, Jasio Velasco and Karo Sampela are shown. .

The first single, ‘Taranto del Serrucho’ takes its title from a critic by Juan Vergillos -in which he defined them as “a breath of fresh air for contemporary flamenco guitar” -. With him they want to pay tribute to Enrique Morente and use lyrics that he sang to Carmen Mora in Rito y Geografía del Cante. Cristian de Moret's voice does the same on this issue.

In "Las guajiras del delirio" they have had Xema Espinosa, who has recorded a saxophone quintet. While the four cuts of ‘The clock suite’ are based on the silent films by Ladislas Starevich that were collected under the name of The Magic Clock. These are compositions that were used for the show ‘La suite del reloj’ premiered in 2015 and which received the Escenarios award for Best Music.

José Torres Trío began its journey in July 2007, at the Ciutat d’Elx Guitar Festival. After their beginnings as a quintet, they recorded their first studio work in 2013 and in 2015 they premiered the show La suite del Reloj, with which they have toured different festivals and cultural events to date. In 2018 they began with the composition and production of the themes of UN (STILL) LIFE, which is published in March 2020.