Rodrigo y Gabriela - 9 Dead Alive

  by Lisa Torem

published: 6 / 5 / 2014

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Review

‘The Soundmaker’ consists of a husky bass, striking main theme with a recapitulation and riveting Flamenco rhythms. ‘Torito’ swings with a rambunctious jazz line. ‘Sunday Neurosis’ is flavoured with philosophical mutterings throughout the spotty narrative and whooshing sound effects. The grinding percussion contrasts the melodic precision. The B section is frenzied and life-affirming. ‘Misty Moses’ is the sunflower in the garden: cheerful, thriving and a trifle mournful, as though the lovely plant is enduring growing pains. It is tinged with enchanting harmonics and brimming with technique. It boasts a suspenseful gorgeous bridge. ‘Somnium’ is a magical lullaby with two strong melodies that speak calypso and take wild turns. ‘Fram’ is for the blues lovers and displays the duo’s fantastic efficiency. They can take a phrase from bittersweet to jugular in a second. ‘Megalopolis is translucent, cinematic and as delicate as the first snow; a startling dreamscape with subtle ornamentation and an unexpectedly chunky outro. which does find its way home. ‘The Russian Messenger’ features superb solo work, which is expressive and technically impressive. Then it all goes deliciously haywire…’La Salle Des Pas Perdus’ doesn’t quite keep up but then all good things must come to an end Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero hail from Mexico City, but after steadily busking in Dublin, they garnered an amazing entourage. Their fifth album ‘9 Dead Alive’ is lush and sensuous. The material proves that they can move easily from genre to genre. The duo will play Glastonbury in June of this year, and in March were featured in a documentary by Alejandro Franco on their beginnings and hard-wrought success. The other point of interest is that the album theme regales eight of their heroes and an ode to “animals and nature.” So which track is inspired by which mover and shaker? ‘Misty Moses’ celebrates Harriet Tubman, ‘Megalopolis’ favours Gabriela Mistral and whilst listening to ‘The Russian Messenger’, you can pine over Fyodor Dostoyevsky. But to know the other inspirations, you’ll need to get ‘9 Dead Alive’ and that’s not exactly what I’d call punishment.

Track Listing:-

1 The Soundmaker
2 Torito
3 Sunday Neurosis
4 Misty Moses
5 Somnium
6 Fram
7 Megalopolis
8 The Russian Messenger
9 La salle des pas perdus

Band Links:-

http://www.rodgab.com/
https://www.facebook.com/rodgab
https://twitter.com/rodgab
http://rodrigoygabriela.bandcamp.com/
https://instagram.com/rodrigoygabriela

Label Links:-

https://instagram.com/becausemusic
http://becausemusic.tumblr.com/
https://twitter.com/becausemusic
https://www.facebook.com/BecauseMusic
http://www.because.tv/