Strata

Along with a memorable roll call of musicians/producers from the UK, El Búho has fallen in love with Latin America, its music, its artists and its environment. Richard Blair (Sidestepper), Will Holland (Quantic) and even Andrew Loog Oldham (of Rolling Stones legend) settled in Colombia for years at a time, working with local artists, often bringing electronics wizardry and UK dancefloor beats into the mix alongside local roots rhythms and instruments. El Búho (Robin Perkins), blazed a similar trail from the north of England, via Latin American studies at Glasgow University, becoming immersed in the wider panorama of South American music, settling for a while in Mexico City and Argentina.

El Búho (The Owl), too, is a serial collaborator and the finest tracks on Strata feature his work with other artists. On album highlight, ‘Brujería’ (Witchcraft), he is joined by Li Saumet, iconic front woman of multi-Grammy-nominated Colombian cumbiadelic band Bomba Estéreo, casting shamanic lyricism over El Búho’s hypnotic mix of dreamlike, restless Andean flutes and Jamaican-inspired dembow beat. Other catch-a-fire moments feature Nita, from Spanish duo Fuel Fandango, and Alejandra Ortiz and Marcus Berg from Colombian-Swedish duo Minük. Best instrumental is ‘Piañuco’, deftly blending the rhythms of amapiano music with huayno folk melodies, and over 50 almost ghostly saxophone lines, played by students in Barcelona.