- Featuring co-production from Nicola Cruz, Verraco and more, the Uruguay producer's latest LP uses adventurous club music and pop touches to soundtrack her re-emergence from a chronic illness.
- The cover art for Lila Tirando a Violeta's latest album, Desire Path, is a close-up of a sculpture by the Mexican artist duo ASMA from their debut exhibition in New York, Vain Kisses To The Source. The title references Ovid's Metamorphoses, which is an allegory for self-reflection. A line from the poem is included in the LP notes: "Alas, this flat image wins my love, as I behold it / But I cannot press my arms around the form I see," narrating the moment Narcissus, the poem's protagonist, falls in love with his own reflection in a lake.
Like Ovid's classic epic, Lila Tirando a Violeta's work is contemplative and introspective. Her previous album, 2020's Limerencia, came from a place of deep suffering during the peak of a chronic neurological illness. Desire Path, on the other hand, follows a period where her condition became more manageable. You can almost feel things become sharper, the colors becoming more vibrant, as her world of contrasts starts to untangle.
Musically, Tirando has always hit a sweet spot between pop and club music. Take "Whirlwinds," featuring longtime collaborator Sayveeyun—its rhythm is built for rolling club moments but the steamy vocals add a streak of R&B. Something similar happens on "Twenty Seven," with Merca Bae and PRJCTN, where gritty dub stabs meet breathy moans and rippling percussion. In one moment it's a heads-down stomper, and in the next you can almost picture Shakira and Beyoncé in the "Beautiful Liar" music video.
There's something about the way Tirando seamlessly blends genres together that makes her music especially moreish. One of the best examples is the opener "Cuerpo Que Flota" (co-produced by Nicola Cruz). It starts out as an ambient track with heavy sub-bass and then mutates into a bass-techno hybrid complete with jarring industrial samples that sound like the ominous creaking door of a dilapidated warehouse. Another contender is "Aguas Violentas"—with help from Verraco—which sets a rich, dazzling melody against thick donk stabs and gun-cock samples.
Considering the brighter beats of Desire Path, it's easy to forget the tough circumstances that surrounded its creation. "Brief Glimpse Of Happiness," the album's closer, brings it all full circle. It features a monologue of someone contemplating the end of their life, driving home Tirando's own story with particular weight: "But I have come close to the end / Now it's the question will I make it or will I not / My life has become too painful and I keep asking myself what am I doing to get out of where I am."
Throughout the album, Tirando layers chaotic rhythms with warmer, sometimes celebratory melodic moments, a friction that beautifully captures the rollercoaster of emotions she must have felt through her treatment. But those words on "Brief Glimpse Of Happiness," not to mention the title, remind us her struggle is ongoing. Desire Path might soundtrack a period of relief for Tirando, but her chronic illness is a threat looming in the background.
Art can be a safe haven, and for Tirando, music was her escape during the peak of her illness. To accompany Desire Path, she and NAAFI commissioned a limited run of 3D printed Ocarinas, an Italian flute-style instrument predominant in video game soundtracks like The Legend Of Zelda. "Interludio," the album's halfway point, is an ambient ode to the instrument and brings up imagery of a video game's ending scene, when the protagonist levitates up and out of the game zone, released from their mission, victorious. In many ways, Desire Path is an everlasting moment of victory for Tirando, and her most accomplished work to date.
Tracklist01. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Nicola Cruz - Cuerpo que Flota
02. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Sayveeyun - Whirlwinds
03. Tungsten Tears
04. Flores del Mal (Dengue Dengue Dengue Remix)
05. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Loris - Caminos del Deseo
06. Interlude
07. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Merca Bae & PRJCTN - Twenty Seven
08. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Sueuga - Aplaudir el Desastre
09. Lila Tirando a Violeta & Verraco - Aguas Violentas
10. Brief Glimpses Of Happiness