By José Gandue @Gandour
Yes, it's just four songs. Barely 18 minutes long. But perhaps the best way to capture the attention that a new offering like this deserves. It is to initially present its sonic perfume in a small format, one that makes it possible for the listener to want to hear more, to realize what has just passed through their ears, and that, surely, will make them go back to the beginning to see if on the second, third, or fourth hearing they can understand and assimilate what they have just experienced. Yes, it may seem exaggerated, but that is how moved we feel with Crypsis, debut EP of Leidibeg, a Chilean band composed of Kam Bahamondes and Camilo Arredondo, in charge of vocals and instrumentation respectively.
What does Leidibeg sound like? Perhaps some will quickly conclude that they represent a recovery of some of what happened in the nineties, because this duo draws on what they experienced during the best moments of trip hop, with notable influences such as Portishead, Tricky and Massive Attack, and adds to it industrial sounds that seem to have been invented by Ministry or Nine Inch Nails. That said, and here come the unexpected elements, why, suddenly, Some melodies of Andean origin can be heard in the background, adapted to the prevailing corrosion, which adds to Bahamondes' voice, a captivating element constantly filtered through various reverb and distortion effects. The best summary of them, in our opinion, is Footprints, the last cut of this recording, which seems like the result of an imaginary dream of the Icelandic Bjork, in his time of Tank Girl, evoking a vibrant walk through the Patagonian mountains. Yes, that's right, a beautiful and unexpected ending.
They are exhibited in Crypsis 4 dirty tunes, exquisite in their contradictory details, Sordid yet precious fragments, where anyone who listens to this material may find themselves on a rollercoaster of seemingly disparate emotions. Some may even come to hate this album, because it demands an effort to uncover each resonant layer within it. This is not material to play on your stereo as background music. This EP requires, at least on the first few plays, a lot of attention. And, frankly, it deserves it.
The entire production, overseen by Nicolás Ramírez (drummer for Camila Moreno and Javiera Mena), appears to have been an arduous task of selecting every sonic detail, leaving no loose ends, everything tightly tied together, leading one to think that This beautiful, dark work can be a small discographic icon that helps us better understand, in the future, the times we live in. In short, a pleasant surprise that hopefully will soon receive the recognition it deserves.