Rafael Toral’s most recent album, 2024’s Spectral Evolution, consisted of a single 42-minute track, divided into loose, flowing movements, but based on the chord changes of the Gershwin chestnut “I Got Rhythm.” On his follow-up, Traveling Light, the Portuguese guitarist works smaller, refashioning six jazz standards using his “space instruments”— electronic contraptions of his own invention that modulate feedback, distort signals, and utilize other instruments like the theremin to create eerie tones, transforming them into something decidedly nontraditional.
As on Spectral Evolution, Toral radically decreases tempos, letting chords elongate into languorous drones that sound more like electric organ than guitar. It’s a simple yet effective…

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