H

One of the most amazing surprises to come out in Argentina's rock scene in recent times, Deformica is responsible for creating "H", an incredible catalogue of powerful music full of diverse nuances and robust developments. Points of reference to describe Deformica's sound are: "FromWithin"-era Anekdoten, modern KC, the fierce side of post-rock (Explosions in the Sky, Kayo Dot), as well as the use of clever counterpoints a-la Don Caballero and some hints to stoner rock. The band has a mind really set onto what they want to do: theis sense of conviction is definitely translated into the way they arrange their compositions and perform them as a well-balanced unit. The albums gets started with the ironically titled 'Final', which consists of a brief atmosphere of montonous dula guitar chords displayed under a soft density. The first symptoms of raw energy appear on 'Nuevo V' right from the outset. This highlight is built on the complementations solidly elaborated by the two guitars, hence creating the ethereal power that goes flowing throughout the entire piece. When each guitar goes loose in order to solo, the track acquires a particular sense of oppression. Meanwhile, the rhythm duo fluidly alternates the muscle of rock and the cadence of jazz. A permanent hero (many times, unsung) is keyboardist Alejandro Carrau, whose electric piano phrases and synth lines form the core of most of the album's tracks, at times sounding like a psychedelic musical box, at times creating powerful layers. Later on, 'Hidralia' will follow a very similar scheme to that portrayed in 'Nuevo V'. 'Mecafónico' is one of the most complex tracks, comprising challenging shifts in mood and rhythm: the explosive, the deconstructive, the pulsational and the neurotice succedd each other in a very schizophrenic fashion. Perhaps my personal favourite. 'Arañitas' can easily be describes ad a hybrid of Crimsonian tradition and the mysterious vibe of post-rock, and this same description can be applied to 'Acalambrase'. Being as they are less somber than tracks 2 and 3, they also happen to bear an enhanced dynamics, as if the band had retaken the energy of those tracks and decided to shake it in a more condensed area. 'Marionetas' shows a sort of playful mood, yet never letting go of the overall neurosis that has been working so well so far. In fact, the ensemble takes advantage of this basic playful mood in order to let the dual guitars explore the realms of math-rock, until serenity takes over and builds the track's finale. The album's tracks are always succeeded by specific epilogues. For instance, the epilogue to 'Nuevo V' consists of a series of surrealistic effects originated by delicately banging the guitar chords, while the epilogue to 'Mecafónico' is occupied by a couple of minimal guitar chords tha tseem to portray a person's mind lost in distant melancholy. Other epliogues are: a jazz-oriented drum solo, chaotic synthetic noises in a very krautrock fashion married to a contrabass' creepy phrases, and why not, a beautiful, dreamy sonata on acoustic guitar. 'Sofisma', teh closing track, is a peculiar case, in which the epilogue is much longer than the main track. This is a languid motif that lasts 2 ½ minutes, followed by a mysterious silence that is only broken when a Sigur Ros kind of jam emerges as a fog amidst the clouds in the sky. "H" is a valuable, even indispnesbale item for those who love heavy prog or whatever they call that kind of art-rock full of tension, dense atmospheres and powerful psychedelia. In fact, Deformica has to be paid attention to - sometime ago they were a bright promise, but nowadays they are a consolidated young band that, hopefully, still has much to offer in prog music.