Space Elements Vol. II is the fourth release in Rafael Toral's ongoing
project, the Space Program. Following the first "Elements" release, this
volume features a new set of collaborators: Evan Parker (soprano sax),
Manuel Mota (guitar), Afonso Simoes (drums), Stefano Tedesco
(vibraphone), Joao Paulo Feliciano (rhodes piano), and Ruben Costa
(digital synthesizer), as well as returning guests Sei Miguel (trumpet),
César Burago (percussion), Fala Mariam (trombone), and Rute Praça
(cello). Space Elements Vol. II displays a melodic quality that, along
with a refined management of silence, marks a new area and consolidates
the Space Program's complex network. Its spaciousness is explained in
Toral's liner notes: "While finding ways to make decisions on sound
emission, it became evident to me that such sounds should have a reason
to exist, they should be essential and necessary."

Dan Warburton's writing in the Wire about Space fits Space Elements Vol.
II perfectly: "The melodic logic that drives certain instruments within
"Space" also recalls birdsong, with dense, convoluted runs of twittering
melody ending in single piping notes, as spontaneous as Messiaen's
birdsong transcriptions were painstaking and meticulous."

Toral's music is a jazz-inspired reevaluation of live electronics:
"Despite working in a sound world that is cosmetically closer to R2D2's
vocabulary than Louis Armstrong's or John Coltrane's, Toral has claimed
a kinship to jazz because it models instant music making within a
disciplined framework" (Bill Meyer, Dusted); "Toral is looking for
nothing less than a totally fresh language to work in" (The Wire).

Presented in a limited edition of 500 CDs and as digital download.