Formats
UOH006CD - CD
5052442018643
Details
Será que ahora podremos entendernos is the second album to come from Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti. Using voice, cello, synthesizers and field recordings, her newest record which translates in English to ‘Will we be able to understand each other now?” is an exploration of communication, not only with others but also ourselves. Now based in Mexico city, Mabe has been heavily involved in the Mexican improvisation scene. Immersing herself in collaborations with fellow musicians operating amongst the scene. The impact of the pandemic meant many of these musicians fled to an old juice factory in Veracruz called La Orduña to quarantine together, where the album came to be created. Mabe’s involvement with the Mexican improvisation scene and her time quarantining with fellow musicians invites many collaborators onto this record. Whilst living in Veracruz, Mabe was able to collaborate with members of drone rock band Tajak, Pedro Tirado and worked remotely with Texan experimentalist Claire Rousay. Mabe’s return to the city, meant further collaborations with the likes of Sebastián Rojas (Sei Still, The Americo Jones Experience) and Hugo Quezada (Robota, Exploded View). Será que ahora podremos entendernos is birthed from the idea that we as people are a funnel that simplify how we communicate with each other and ourselves. Through omission and clumsiness, we often make the process of understanding incredibly complicated. Mabe says “I focused on the idea of “diagramation”. The act of putting something in a room and the process of how you arrange it and applying this to how we arrange words. It’s about how do you move from one place in the room to the other there are objects in the way? There’s always on option to make a route hard and long or short and easy. Looking at it this way and applying it to communication, I couldn’t separate the idea of simplification and optimization. It’s a matter of purpose.” Throughout the record, Mabe uses the questioning to frame how to link the start and the end of a song. Creating objects for the listener to find as the album progresses from layers of cello, synthesizers, guitars, plates, clappings and field recordings such as the birds of La Orduña. Playing between moments of chaosity and experimentation on tracks such as ‘Que Me Hace Saber Esto’ to elements of serene, etherealism created by repetitiveness and simpler arrangements on tracks such as ‘Nadie Sabe’.