Vasco Mendonça’s attention to detail is somehow euphoric, contagious. In “Play Off” he invites the Portuguese percussion group Drumming GP to play four of his new compositions. The title suggests that everything is more of a challenge than an invitation and part of the thrill of this music is to navigate the idea of the suggestions addressed by the composer in the title of the pieces or in the liner notes of the CD. He describes “Play Off”, the opening piece, as a “parallel between musical performance and game playing, a strong influence in my work, is perhaps clearer than ever in this piece, where the game playing between musicians also brings about a particular form of choreography.” The openness of its four parts builds up as a great introduction to everything that happens in and around it. In “American Settings” Vasco uses the words of
two American Poets – Terrance Hayes and Tracy K. Smith – as outlines of contemporary America and a longing for another time.