What does music sound like when it remembers and imagines, or when it grieves and consoles?
Throughout his suite Ímpetu, Juanma Trujillo meditates on these questions with uncommon delicacy and grace, inviting the listener into an intimate and at times melancholic space. The recent losses of his maternal and paternal grandfathers, Rogerio and Rubito, led him to honor their memories. As two men who did not share the burdens of their experiences openly, they left only the traces of their struggles behind, which Juanma transforms here into a program of serious but unsentimental music.
His collaborators Hery Paz, Santiago Leibson, and Robin Baytas show profound empathy in how they express this complex of feeling through sound and silence—latent memories awakened by a motif of rustling percussion, and the subtleties of attack, sustain, and decay that become expressive equals to conventional rhythm, melody, and harmony.
Juanma cherishes that which lingers over the merely captivating or shocking, knowing that, in music as in life, it is more meaningful to affect and to coalesce than to stimulate or to fracture. Ímpetu is a testament to these durable values and to the memories of his grandfathers, and we commune with these artists as we receive this musical tribute, its humility and its beauty.
- Kevin Sun
credits
released October 1, 2021
Juanma Trujillo - Guitar
Hery Paz - Saxophone, Bass Clarinet & Flute
Santiago Leibson - Piano & Wurlitzer
Robin Baytas - Drums & Percussion
All music composed by Juanma Trujillo (Adaure Publishing, BMI)
Recorded by Chris Gilroy at Douglass Recording
Assistant Engineer - Amogh Agarwal
Mixed by Juanma Trujillo
Mastered by Eivind Opsvik at Greenwood Underground
Artwork and Design by Flóres Soláno
Videography by Kenneth Jimenez
The latest album from the electronic artist is a mash-up of musical influences including reggae, trance, prog rock, and free jazz. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 1, 2021