Composer & Musician
Fresh Air…Breath Out
"Life Holds" written for the Air-Edel's "Fresh Air... Breath out" album is a special track for me.
The album was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and strangely enough, I wrote "Life Holds" suffering from -fortunately mild- symptoms of this coronavirus.
I kept playing hypnotic, warm, and repetitive stuff, a bit like mantras on my nylon-stringed guitar, and this was the basis of the track.
Available in all Digital Stores the proceeds from the album sales, downloads and streams will benefit the arts and health not-for-profit organisation Breathe Arts Health Research
A Bunch of Songs - for film -
"It's about music written specifically for film but also that beautiful world of a song that moves seamlessly from incidental soundtrack back into song always keeping that "contemporary" sound, following the needs of the film it was created for." Many of the songs on this record were co-written with my good friend Federico Jusid for the Spanish Film "El Club de Los Incomprendidos.”
Art cover: Paula Vega
Ariadne
The Weissenborn is a fabulous instrument created by Hermann Weissenborn in the 1920s. Fewer than 5,000 of these were produced, and no one knows precisely how many survive to this day.
"It's sort of an acoustic baritone lap steel guitar, for lack of a better description, with a deep and soulful tone. When I got mine, I wasn't sure what to do with it and I was trying to imprint myself too much over it, which it wouldn't allow. In the end, we had to reach to an agreement on how to work together."
"Writing these pieces was a bit like letting go, allowing the instrument to take over and drive me to wherever it wanted to go, and then find myself in an emotional space both familiar and unknown at the same time.
A bit like abandoning the ship and letting myself loose, to finally get to where I wanted to go in the first place."
Art cover: Ignacio Tomé
Becoming
An industry release of trailer-library music, this effort was an unusual one.
A cinematic, post-rock work recorded almost in its entirety by live guitars and guitarviols along with drums and percussion; big, bombastic and fun.
Published by “Last Sonic Frontier” and with invaluable guidance from Alessandro Camnasio. Mastered by Tommaso Colliva.
Art cover by Darin Leach.
Jón - As Is
Works for prepared piano and guitarviol.
Released under the alias “Jón,” this record is a very personal take on mindfulness or “finding your centre” kind of music. Acoustic, three-dimensional and rough, this is Ale’s first major composition project based entirely on prepared piano.
Recorded on a 100-year-old German upright and guitarviol.
"Broken music to wrap yourself up in.”
Broken
Co-written with Roy Hughes over a “Beatcamp” weekend at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios, this is a dystopian track inspired by a great picture of "beautiful devastation" in Chernobyl from National Geographic.
“The collaboration with Roy was very enriching; he is an extremely talented piano and keyboard player as well as a composer, so together, with me doing guitars and writing/producing, it was just so much fun.”
“We got to use all the cool instruments from the studio, the old Hammond organ, the Bosendorfer grand, on top of Howard Gill on drums and Nicole Fermie on vocals, and it ended up laying the foundations of what was to come in my musical life.”
Riots + Nojs
"Eccentric and cinematic rock anthems.”
An industry release published by SPM Music Group, this was a fun project to record; filled with guitars and basses of all sorts along with drums and percussion.
Thanks to Mikkel Heimbürger for all the help and support.
Cover Art by I.J. Brighton.