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Victor Rodriguez — Fragmentos de la Torre
(Bandcamp Vessence Experimental VE-E 001, 2025, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-09-21

Fragmentos de la Torre Cover art

Victor Rodriguez is a founding member of October Equus, one of Spain’s premier progressive rock bands, and one of the band’s main composers as well as their keyboardist. Fragmentos de La Torre is his first solo album, twelve pieces that step through the odd hours of the day beginning at 5AM and concluding at 3AM, presumably based on city life during those hours (that presumption based on the cover art of the opening single “5 AM Naufragio”). One might suspect that (with Rodriguez being a keyboard player and all) these works would be loaded up with piano, organ, synthesizers, and other keyboard instruments, but that’s simply not the case — Fragmentos de La Torre (Fragments of the Tower) is a twelve-part cycle of serious modern compositions, fully orchestrated with a complement of strings, drums, tuned percussion, occasional winds and horns, plus electronics and more. One won’t hear a lot of standard keyboards herein (piano, electronic or otherwise, though they are there to some degree); most of the music of Fragmentos seems to have more in common with Bartók, Stravinsky, and other 20th Century composers’ orchestral works, with limited hints of progressive rock on a few of the pieces, and with the sole exception of the choruses on “1 AM Dogma” and its follow-on “3 AM Reflejos” there are no vocals to speak of. The component pieces are filled with emotion and beauty, shifting gears regularly, flowing, changing moods on a whim. A few, like “9 AM Forja,” “9 PM Fractura,” and “1 AM Dogma” stand out from the others because they eschew the standards set by most of the others, but once a listener has completed the full journey around the clock eight or ten times, one comes to realize that every piece here is quite unique, and all are masterful examples of a convocation of ideas blessed by Rodriguez’ skillful arrangements. One might be able to draw some connection with artists like Asceta or Art Zoyd or others in the chamber-rock realm (or even October Equus for that matter), but what’s here has far more in common with modern classical than rock. The album comes with a sixteen-page booklet illustrated by Rodriguez, plus an interactive audio-video booklet. A powerful opening statement from Rodriguez.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Victor Rodriguez

More info
http://vessence-e.bandcamp.com/album/fragmentos-de-la-torre

 

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