Karen y los Remedios – Silencio (2023)    

Review:
Ana Karen G Barajas may live in Guadalajara, but the music she makes with Karen y los Remedios (alongside Jonathan Muriel and Guillermo Berbeyer) resides in some other space entirely. Though it’s nominally cumbia, the music on Silencio has a kind of supernatural strangeness to it—its beats wreathed in stardust, Karen’s haunting voice drifting through the mix like a ghost passing through walls. The organ line in the spectacular album opener “Mi Gran Dolor” would be creepily effective as the score to an old Lon Chaney silent, and “Cartas Marinas” aches like prime Portishead. Karen y los Remedios hypnotize from the first note of Silencio to the last. The album’s title is, famously, the final word spoken in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. The record itself seems to imagine what happens next. — by J. Edward Keyes: bandcamp

***

Described by their record label as ‘blending cumbia and existentialism,’ this is the first full album from Ana Karen G Barajas, Jonathan Muriel (Jiony) and guitarist Guillermo Berbeyer (Z.A.M.P.A.). Together, they have previously released two EPs and numerous recordings individually. Barajas is an artist and arts and social sciences researcher; all three have worked for some years in Mexico's alternative music scene. Silencio is a highly eclectic and enjoyable release of electronic music with elements of trip-hop, techno and traditional Latin music, especially variations of cumbia. Barajas has an engagingly wistful voice and the music has a dreamy, almost mystical quality. It was written during the pandemic, reflecting a period of introspection in which the musicians were contemplating their vulnerability, evident on the loneliness evoked by the title track. An imaginative and thought-provoking release. — by Martin Sinnock: songlines.co.uk




Track List:
01 - Mi Gran Dolor
02 - Flama Eterna
03 - Silencio
04 - Cartas Marinas
05 - Lágrimas
06 - Las Muchachas
07 - Tu Felicidad
08 - Plexo Lunar
09 - Te Pido a Ti


Media Report:
Genre: dream-pop, electronic
Country: Mexico
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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