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Tobías Alcayota 'El Tri​á​ngulo De Las Bermudas' 12" vinyl

$25.00

"Coming back from a five-year break, Tobías Alcayota presents their 10th studio album, El Triángulo de las Bermudas (The Bermuda Triangle), released by chilean label Transamericas, allowing us to hear the trio's music for the first time on vinyl. Certainly, the musical voyage that the band contrives is reinforced by the material it's pressed into; favorable to the ceremonial experience that wax can trigger. Dodging the hard lines of hierarchy and solemnity, the music in this album unravels freely, yet decidedly through genuine experimentation, prone to ritual. By means of diligent execution and a crystal clear sound deployed on broad instrumentation, both electronic and acoustic, the band builds a tenacious musical junction which is as experimental as it is vernacular, supported by daring mixing and flawless mastering.

Improvisation is pivotal in the trio's creative process, but experimentation just for its own sake is proven barren if it fails to catalyze entanglement and trembling in the listener. Sprouting in the studio, Tobías Alcayota's sound blooms in the mixing process, using spoken-word samplers from obscure movies and eerie folk tales harvested in field by the band members themselves. A rite not imposed, but inviting, even bold, whose spell takes effect only if complicity quivers. There's a strong drive into the ephemeral, towards something elusive yet astonishing, a fearless search for the nonexistent, far away from conceit. The intention is to enable an open field where the spectator can wander and listen actively.

Thus, dissonance is key. Chords and melodies are not the value chain; on the contrary, they dissolve, crack and bend upon the nature of a processional ritual. Chaos and spell ensnare fostering trance and drift. Immersed in this surreal trip, awe and poignancy stand out through the timbre of Andean instruments such as the trutruca, tarkas and chajchas. The ardent march of altiplanic carnivals is summoned as the Bermuda Triangle ceremony embodies into motion. Disappearance happens as much in the center of nothingness as it does in between an immense crowd.

The multicolored dance of the tarkadas leads the stride. A crew of atavic characters walks rhythmically, armed with drums and bronze, maybe lost, maybe destined. In this exhilarating commotion, shrieking horns and hollers float towards a baroque cathedral, aiming to face the syncretic saint that stands inside. Let's zoom in into the scene until we reach the lips of a wanderer led by the ritual tide of the music. What is he uttering? Witches still exist."

Tobias Alcayota is generated by Jorge Cabargas, Marcelo Peña (MIOPEC) and Jorge Cabieses-Valdés.

Recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Marcelo Peña (MIOPEC) at Ayref Studios. Drums recorded at Mansión Studios. Santiago, Chile 2018-2019.