Cancún

Despite this being a 20th-anniversary album you can be forgiven for not knowing much about the band Calle Sur – they were certainly new to me. They are an expat duo, from Panama and Colombia, who met in Iowa and who have seemingly spent most of their careers adding Latin flavour to the American Midwest.

Recorded remotely during the pandemic, Cancún threatens for them to be better known worldwide through a revitalisation of their sound; gone is the guitar-led folk music of their past (somewhere between son and nueva canción), in favour of a strong Latin jazz atmosphere, with a number of local pianists and bassists joining the core duo of Edgar East and Karin Stein. On the opening track, ‘Aguacero’e Mayo’, a Colombian traditional you may know through Totó La Momposina, there is a simplicity in the evocative flute riff and almost spoken-word delivery, with piano adding all the movement around the slowed-down groove. It’s a trick they pull throughout, reining in the rhythms, giving vocals and instrumentation plenty of room to shine. It’s also the album’s downfall, songs with weaker arrangements or melodies drift by in a crawl, while changes in pace, like the jittery ‘Quiti-Quiti’ and panpipe-excursion ‘Recuerdos’, are used too sparingly.