Matias Aguayo – 'The Visitor' review
Until the Chilean-born, Cologne-raised Matais Aguayo emerged in 2011 as Battles’ new de facto lead singer on Ice Cream, he seemed content releasing low-key techno and deep house records with a slight samba slink. However, some of Battles’ playful deviancy and sense of mischief has evidently rubbed off on Aguayo, making his third album a slyly addictive, if slightly sprawling affair.
Opener Rrrrr’s purring samples and loose syncopation set the tone for an organic record that bubbles with beautifully human percussive feel, and which is understated but also stands pleasingly proud of its idiosyncrasies: what appears to be kazoo flourishes pepper By The Graveyard for no better reason than that it sounds a bit wrong, and Una Fiesta Diferente’s insistent, serpentine bassline knows how much of an earworm it is and is happy to exploit that.
Aguayo’s slightly iffy English lyrics mean that the tunes he tackles in Spanish are far more engaging – and the ones sung only in nonsense syllables better still.
7/10
