- Atmospheric, ultra-slow cumbia rebajada tracks produced with a painterly touch.
- Bogota born, Medellín-based artist artist Nicolás Vallejo got his start making gothic cumbia in the group La MiniTK Del Miedo. Now, as Ezmeralda, he puts a headier spin on his old band's propulsive sound. The end result is sluggish yet alluring cumbia rebajada (a genre pioneered by Mexican sonidero DJ Gabriel Duéñez, who started chopping and screwing cumbia cassette tapes in the '60s). The subgenre is defined by this kind of lead-footed lethargy, but Ezmeralda's latest EP, En Átomos Volando, lands in an especially liminal place, like the beats are floating in purgatory. While it's similar to the work of more straightforward rebajada acts like Grupo Jejeje and Amantes del Futuro, the EP's bleary samples and warbled looping also evoke collagists like Jan Jelinek and William Basinski.
Ezmeralda's debut, Patrimonio inmaterial de la nada, was wispy and unconventional. Inspired by themes of magic and tragedy, En Átomos Volando takes Vallejo's wonky worldbuilding to the next level. "Niños flotando en el cielo" contrasts a detuned chorus of children's voices with the eerie sounds of a distant ice cream truck. "Flores en el río" lives up to its title, bringing to mind a gentle cascade of flower petals landing on the surface of rushing water, with an atmosphere so thick you can imagine the sticky condensation on your skin The most direct track is "Summer Of Sacol," where a shuffling shaker lays the framework for swelling analog synthesizer melodies. The EP is woozy but purposeful, merging the legacies of both Latin American music and downtempo in an intriguing, painterly way.
The first listen through En Átomos Volando left my brain feeling wobbly—the mental equivalent of trying to find my footing in a house of mirrors erected on the side of a steep hill. After a few spins, it started to come across as more mesmerizing than bizarre. Ezmerelda's music is disorienting, sometimes lackadaisical, but even its most challenging tracks are captivating and kind of unearthly.
Tracklist01. Niños flotando en el cielo
02. Nochear
03. Flores en el río
04. Duelo (Cumbia del Fantasma)
05. Summer Of Sacol