JUANA MOLINA has been releasing very fine albums since 1996. "Un Día", on the Domino label is her fifth.
All eight tracks are unmistakably MOLINA's own. Her sultry, melodic voice, the lightly played Spanish guitar and the layers on swirling layers of natural and digital sonics could be no one else.
As an album it moves further into abstraction and daring than ever. Her own voice, her own hand claps, single samples of an open cymbal or woodblock, natural sounds and exotic instrumental loops are meticulously coaxed together into a fantasy samba band with an incredibly organic feel. The percussion sings with texture, pitch, syncopation and pulse. Close your eyes and feel the dizzying depths and distances in the mix. There is so much going on, so much blatant aural eroticism that you might not want to come back out. Hypnotism is only a half of it. You can be fifteen minutes into the album, still only in track three: "Lo Dejamos", and suddenly realise you are completely lost in the flowing rhythm and the delights of new and beguiling noises.
The opening and title track "Un Día" is outstanding. Brighter and brisker than some of the others its throbbing bass and percussion make it almost a radio/club kind of tune. with low whistles, infectious riffs and big stupid, laugh-teasing cymbal clangs at vast intervals. It's near-Gothic in it's complexity, but it's so womb-like soothing and swaying that you could OD on pleasure and never come back out. The forward impulse is irresistible and smooth.
|
Echoes of earlier work are there. "¿Quién? (suite)" takes the song from "Segundo" and builds outwards. The opening guitar phrase of "Los Hongos De Marosa" could well have come from the sessions for "Son", the fourth album. It's the development into something funkier and more confident that sets "Un Día" apart as an album. Having opened with such a positive and exciting tune, it closes with another highlight. "Dar (Qué Difícil)" muscles itself in as a bass driven funk tune with a blues edge and then hauls in a sci-fi warehouse-full of tuned percussion and found sound. It's more fun than your soft orifices will have had all year. Even sitting down you'll want to dance.
If you have other JUANA MOLINA albums you will definitely want this one. If not, then this would be a good first step into a rather special musical world.
http://www.juanamolina.com
|
