Asimétrico

It’s a pity the name ‘trance’ has already been taken for a music genre, as it is the perfect descriptor for this album from Argentinian producer El Remolón. A stalwart of Latin American electronic music since digital cumbia emerged from Buenos Aires’ nightclubs in the mid-00s, El Remolón has carefully honed his sound over the years, adding folk instrumentation and smoothing the jagged edges.

Album opener ‘Mover el Cuerpo’ sets proceedings off with an Atahualpa Yupanqui-esque guitar motif that gives way to arpeggiating melodies and swirling drones, a sinister voice eventually telling us to ‘move the body.’ The insinuation to dance continues on ‘Que Bailen’, which once more is in no hurry to reveal itself, a languid beat and slight percussion enough to set the body in motion. The playful melodicism of ‘Frágil’, featuring instrumental duo Cuervo Cuervo, and the folky title-track, containing layers of vocals from fellow Argentinian Lauphan, reveal different sides to El Remolón’s sound without ever seeming out of place. Best of all is ‘Los Pájaros’, a collaboration with Brawlio who adds passionate coplas to a slowly-building arrangement, the two of them conspiring to create a trance-like state through repetition, insistent rhythms and plenty of experience doing this kind of thing.