Apropa't

Savath & Savalas is back with their second full album, and have evolved into something truly amazing. This is a Scott Herren (a.k.a. Prefuse 73) side project, so it should come as no surprise that the production and beats are top quality.

However, this is not trip-hop like you’ve heard it before. The whole album is based around a distinctly Spanish aesthetic, and centers upon the hypnotizing vocals (in Spanish) of Eva Puyuelo Muns. This might technically be electronica, but the album is more "organic" than a fucking vegetable farm.

The vocals are always somber, and the whole album has a very wistful (even sad) atmosphere. Though extremely accessible, the sound is multilayered and complex.

Please play this album!
All tracks are beautiful (and I really mean that), but I especially love 2, 3, 8, 9, 11.

- Captain Dee (Doug)

1. Short. Fuzzy noise replaced by wistful, fragmented guitars and harmonica. (1:07)
**2. Echoing vocals and rolling guitar melt into soft chimes and a slow, mesmerizing beat. Ends with a (nostalgic?) clarinet-harmonica duet over strumming guitar. Jesus Christ, this is incredible!! (4:33)
*3. Immediately launches into a muted but rockin’ hip hop beat. Layers of vocals almost seem to chant over distorted noise. (2:14)
4. No beat. Begins with female vocals over dark guitar strumming, then vocals fade into a wonderful mesh of horns, harmonica, chimes, and guitar. (3:01)
5. Rhythmic vocals over orchestra samples, noise and subtle clapping. Drums come in, and everything has an airy feel. Second half is another instrumental mesh. (3:24)
6. Piano and quiet train station samples are soon joined by rolling drums, horns, synths, vocals. This is very evocative of a train ride, somehow. (3:52)
7. Opens with piano, bizarre sounds. Understated beat, guitar, and oooh-ing vocals come in. Atmospheric interlude, then more developed synthesized beat. A certain tension pervades throughout. (3:34)
*8. Dramatic piano and sad vocals over breathy background vocals and chiming. A powerful (but restrained) beat joins in at parts. Sputters out in reverberations. (3:08)
*9. Cooing layers of vocals over beautiful guitar. As if sitting on the beach in an intensely nostalgic moment? (1:46)
10. Melodic duet of vocals, slow pulsating beat, high-pitched noises. Drums later change meter for a noisy interlude. Track fades in quiet soundscape. (3:30)
*11. Guitars seem surprisingly cheerful, with mutedly joyful chiming. Wistful chorus of breathy vocals. Transitions to cut-up synth loops, effusive guitar strumming. An intensely reflective track. (4:16)
12. Trippy vocals, unsettling piano and strings. Dramatic guitar interjections. Fades with a haunting (but lovely) soundscape of instruments. (3:29)
13. Short. Warm, cute interplay of synthesized sounds.
14. Surprisingly assertive vocals over glittering synths and piano. (2:06)