![]() The refrain fits the album’s division into sections dedicated to water, earth, air, and fire, but it still comes off a little hokey. ![]() Album opener “ Agua” begins with a call for the four elements: “Agua/Tierra/Aire/Fuego,” Saumet sings, in a fashion reminiscent of bullerengue, an Afro-Colombian oral tradition. As Liliana Saumet and Alade riff back and forth about the joys of being fully present, they are carried by Efraín Cuadrado’s gaita (also known as a kuisi), which adds a dazzlingly bright sound to the synths and club-ready rhythm.Īlthough environmentalism has long played a role in Bomba Estéreo’s music, they’ve never sounded more spiritually attuned, even if it isn’t always effective. The most obvious example is “Conexión Total,” a collaboration with Nigerian star Yemi Alade. Drawing influences from marimba, Colombian folk, champeta, and Afrobeats, their sound isn’t necessarily new, but it’s bigger than ever. As Bomba Estéreo absorbed themselves in the land around them, Deja took shape, pushing the group’s habitual electro-tropicalia into different terrain. Mejía also released a solo album, Mirla, under the moniker Monte, which inserted nature recordings within instrumental tracks. In 2020, Bomba Estereo’s founder Simón Mejía starred in Sonic Forest, a documentary in defense of coastal Colombia’s Afro-Colombian and Indigenous populations. When Deja invites us to the dancefloor, Bomba Estéreo ask that we proceed with a conscience. With this album, Bomba Estéreo propose dance music as a gateway to a better tomorrow.The resulting work is the band’s most earnest to date. Even when Bomba Estereo get dark, there are moments like “Ahora” which features field recordings and Saumet’s spoken word-intro as if conducting a guided meditation, giving the listener a chance to breathe.ĭeja is at once energetic and subdued, heartbroken as well as full of heart, and a balance between their ancestral heritage with cutting-edge experimentations. Acoustic guitars give way to deep bass grooves on “Se Acabó” while “Tamborero” features a hook straight from folkloric cumbia with dub- and house-inspired electronics meanwhile, “Conexión Total” gets its spark from the presence of Nigerian singer Yemi Alade. Musically speaking, Deja is perhaps Bomba Estéreo’s most fully realized work to date the production is so lush that you’re as likely to get lost in its textures as much as you’d be prompted to dance. Songs like “Se Acabó” have Saumet expressing how she’s sick of crying and ready to heal, and how the future will bring the light. It’s divided into four sections, each representing an element-water, earth, fire, wind-that maintain humanity’s equilibrium-or lack thereof, bringing the narrative from hopeful to hopeless and back. With the pandemic stalling the album, the band seized the opportunity to finish the album, transforming it into a multilayered, emotional artwork. During the last decade, Bomba Estéreo rose to international recognition thanks to an irresistible combination of folk melodies, cumbia rhythms, electronic sounds, and a keen sense of pop hooks, resulting in hits like “Fuego,” “Soy Yo,” and “To My Love.” For their latest studio effort, Saumet and Mejía wrote and recorded with touring guitarist José Castillo and percussionist Efraín “Pacho Carnaval” Cuadrado-a first for Bomba Estéreo-as well as Lido Pimienta and the Cuban duo OKAN on backing vocals at Saumet’s beach house on the Colombian coast. Deja is perhaps one of the most consciously (and best) post-pandemic records of the year.ĭeja marks the next stage in the evolution of the Colombian duo of Saumet (vocals/lyrics) and Simón Mejía (electronics). In other words, the festive electronic folk sound that gained Bomba Estéreo international recognition is present, and through it, they deliver a conflicted and yearning party record. “Tierra” is also a catchy track with an irresistible beat. “They took the wind from us, they burned the jungle, they sold the lands, they put out the sun.” But then she reassures us that they have not taken away our dreams since we can write history from now on. On “Tierra,” one of the most arresting moments of Bomba Estereo’s new album Deja, vocalist Li Saumet offers a bleak list of crimes against the planet: “They took away the sea, sky, and wind,” she sings.
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