Missing Part from About: Silence by Marco Antonio Santos

“Missing Part" is the only movement written for just the guitar, bass and drums trio. This movement portrays the loss of one’s past self and is conceived to feel introspective, but hopeful. The concept of grief, portrayed in “Missing Part,” relates to the idea of understanding previous stages of life and how we perceive ourselves through time – always subject to changes – therefore, there is a sense of death of our definitions of who we used to be.
The main features of this track are the concise written material, the use of the previously mentioned guitar drone maneuver and the use of rubato and fermatas, which are common traits throughout much of the album. This guitar feature is achieved using an electronic device, a “sustain” guitar pedal, that, using a digital infinite delay, can sustain a note as much as the player decides to hold the pedal’s button. It is a digital process that mimics the sustain pedal of a piano.
There is a dedicated collective solo section at the end of this track for the rhythm section.

Marco Antonio Santos is a guitarist, arranger, composer, and music educator. Originally from Minas Gerais, Brazil, he is currently based in Austin, Texas.

Santos has performed extensively in Brazil and the United States, navigating freely between jazz, funk, pop, and Brazilian music.

In spring 2023, ears&eyes Records will release Santos’s debut album, About: Silence.