"Wed 21" - Juana Molina

Juana Molina
  • artist:Juana Molina
  • release year:2013
  • country:Argentina
  • formats:Audio File / Digital, CD (Compact Disc), LP / Vinyl
  • record posted by:Crammed Discs
  • label:Crammed Discs

On her previous albums, Juana Molina deliberately used a defined, minimal array of elements (mostly guitar and layers of vocals, with some synth and percussion) to compose pieces which have gradually moved from folky acoustic songs to mesmerizing, gorgeous reveries… [and] radiant clouds of sound (the NY Times, about her latest album Un Dia).

This time, she's remarkably expanded her palette of instruments, incorporating electric guitars, bass, drums and inventive electronics, thus giving Wed 21 a richer, broader sonic spectrum. In some of the tracks, Juana comes as close to a pop song format and to a full band sound as she ever did… while some other pieces are sinuous excursions through gamuts of feelings & textures. Guided as always by her trademark spirit of experimentation and her deep melodic sense, Juana Molina has definitely come up with a masterpiece. As the album unfolds, each of the eleven songs reveals new, delightful ideas, unexpected turns and inspired atmospheres. In so many words: never a dull moment, Wed 21 is a superb, thoroughly enjoyable journey from start to finish.

As for the charming, often enigmatic lyrics: one can't help noticing the intriguing presence of a number of specimens of fauna (including a guardian bear, an insect with organs that glow like automobile headlights, and a rat suffering from compulsive hoarding disorder). Let's also pay special attention to the eerie dream in Final Feliz, and to the hilarious misfortunes of a narrator who hates noise pollution (in Ferocísimo).

Wed 21 was entirely composed, performed, recorded and produced by Juana Molina in her studio located in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.