By José Gandue @Gandour
I'm sure this happens to many of you. One afternoon you finish lunch, you have to go to work, and you want to listen to something completely different, something totally new. It's about avoiding falling into your personal top 40 where you already know every song by heart., And we know that we will return to them when we need the comfort of repetition.
In my personal case, I initially open Spotify and after a few minutes I realize that I want to avoid the "Swedish algorithm"., that imaginary robot that wants to drag me into the same labyrinth, The same routes that no longer bring the slightest sense of wonder, that feeling that tells me, "Get comfortable, don't go down risky paths." That's where it becomes necessary to turn to a trusted friend: Bandcamp. There, the perception is different; it's like when you walked into your favorite store with a few pesos in your pocket and didn't know what you wanted to take home. On Bandcamp, at least for me, I do what I did twenty or thirty years ago on the shelf at the record and cassette shop: I look at the covers, hoping they will pique my curiosity. Today I go to the Chilean chapter and see the image repeated four times of a girl with her hair up, I see the album title, Poor girl, And I say, "What do I have to lose?" I press play and listen.
Ferni on the run She is an artist from San Antonio, which, according to Wikipedia, is "a coastal city, capital of the Province of San Antonio in the Valparaíso Region, Chile and is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world, known as 'The Jewel of the Pacific'.". All you hear on his album is his voice and his guitar, as simple as possible. And yet, as we see in the texts that accompany his album, his songs were composed five years ago. and they were only recorded a few months ago, in a home setting. Likewise, as mothers say, "everything has its time" (other more religious people will say that the gods, no matter the cult they refer to, have their times).
Poor girl It is an eight-track production, including two mini-interviews with a girl who, although there is little information about her, we suspect is Femi herself in her childhood, revealing her musical tastes. The other six recordings are sensitive, solid, sincere songs. They are everyday stories of love and heartbreak, disappointments, half-smiles, daily frustrations, and yet there is a sense of nonchalance in singing about it and including us, upon hearing it, in something that we soon feel as our own., It's like we've lived it and finally heard someone narrate it properly. It's perfectly understandable when Ferni tells us, in Bad day:
«"No more, no more
I promise you, I won't give any more today.
like Cinderella, but the prince is hiding
With hints of anarchy
I tried, but I didn't kill the policeman.
and consequently the heel was too big for me."»
In the end, Poor girl It's an entertaining album, whose affability lulls us and we celebrate with a simple smile that will last until nightfall. Yes, it's that simple: A woman with her acoustic guitar, playing songs from her bedroom, without any fanfare, manages to captivate us. (And what's more, if we want, we can then download her entire album legally and for free). This has been a good afternoon. Ferni, Thanks for the surprise.