Take a step back to gain momentum and then jump forward twice. Rewind to reevaluate and grow. Emerge from the mud. Reborn – yes – from the ashes. There is practically no musician who resists it after a period of anxiety. And what happened between March 2020 and some undetermined moment in the last two years could have been the last straw for Joni Antequera. To the pains, daggers, as they often say. And if it is with an absence of prejudices, versatility and a desire to get involved in different and very diverse tasks, all the better. Not all twelve cuts from the sixth album Amatria They convince me equally, but they all exude that intention of trying new things and letting themselves be immersed in other languages. It is already clear from “Have pity on”, an opening that in the way it moves Allegri’s piece – 17th century, no less – reminds me of what the Valencian Queidem did in his wonderful last album.
“Lizard”, with Siloé, seems tailor-made for any of those big festivals that will possibly feature it next summer, but the electronic cumbia rhythm of “Cloud” y “Seeking”the flamenco turn of “Call me crazy,” the syncopation – also of Latin inspiration – of “Sun and shadow”, with Paula Serrano, and BOYE’s rap in the “The land of the lynx”, with a sensational change of rhythm that results in a revelry with a global accent (after some stanzas inspired by the “Toledo” by José Aguilar), raise the stakes and radiate a very clear commercial projection. More attached to their traditional canon are the house pop of “Where it takes me” y “From the ashes”, as well as the electropop of “Techno manchego (asiejque)”, but all three serve to oxygenate the central section of the album and provide it with that healthy diversity of textures and melodic contours that it shows.