- Ernesto Ferreyra's sound hasn't so much evolved over the past three years as it has organically swelled and contracted in the same way the best of his tracks do. Its music that proves what bloodless minimal often needs is some good old-fashioned blood. But even Ferreyra sometimes suffers from that life-draining bloodletting. His Cadenza debut last year was pale and emaciated—two long and winding skeletons that sounded more like untouched blueprints for Ferreyra's usual work. Thus, it was with some trepidation that I approached his debut album El Paraiso De Las Tortugas, also released on Cadenza.
Trepidation was unnecessary, because Ferreyra's music here is as rosy and well-fed as ever, rustling and bustling with an infectious natural energy. It feels like his best work yet, the excitable grooves thumping with a distinctly disco heartbeat. Glorious tropical abandon takes over from the beginning with "Mil Y Une Noches," the sun-kissed rhythm dragging along irrepressible snatches of swooping disco strings and reverbed guitar. The island paradise vibes continue with a hot-under-the-collar organ whirring underneath the pliable rubber architecture of "Los Domingos Vuelo A Casa" and the chiming melodies that dot the stomach-turning basslines in "Letting Go."
El Paraiso makes a distinct transition in its latter half as the sun sets, keeping the island party alit with bonfires and torches. Wood crackles in the rhythms of "Acequia (Nos Salvamos)," a tent erected amid the reflective metal clink of "I Won't Forget," and from there the album ends almost where it started with its best track. "El Comienzo De Todo Los Demas" is when that disco heart bursts through the album's weary frame, emerging as a synth-saturated stunner with thickset bass. It's perfect for the heady 5 AM admixture of exhaustion and bliss, the sun about to rise just in time for things to start all over again with "Mil y una Noches."
What makes Ernesto Ferreyra's minimal techno so appealing is the way the samples seem to pop and burst within their otherwise constrictive frameworks. They unfurl at the end of rhythmic phrases in a resplendent display of colour, aural fireworks that inspire excitement without interrupting the steady groove. His impeccable production doesn't sacrifice vigor for detail, and so even more experimental numbers like "The Mystery Is Gone," a tribal-tinged quiet storm that sounds more like a field recording of a party than an actual track, don't get lost in their own heady conceits.
El Paraiso isn't perfect, however, as even it can get bogged down in monotonous muck. The generic bass workout "Coin Sainte Cath" and the one-dimensional "Cenote Trip" (which sticks out like a sore thumb in the middle of the album) are not so much bad as much as they are specks of imperfection that mar an otherwise flawless surface.
Tracklist 01. Mil y una Noches
02. Los Domingos Vuelo a Casa
03. The Mystery Is Gone
04. Back Pain
05. Cenote Trip
06. Lost
07. Letting Go
08. El Paraíso De Las Tortugas
09. Acequia (Nos Salvamos)
10. I Won't Forget
11. Coin Sainte Cath
12. El Comienzo de todo lo Demas