In just five years, Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti has become one of experimental music’s biggest names. In addition to her spellbinding solo releases, she is an eager collaborator, working with the likes of Efterklang, the improv quartet Amor Muere – which she co-founded in her adopted home of Mexico City – and with her romantic partner, guitarist Hector Tosta, as Titanic. On the latter’s superb 2023 debut, Vidrio, they pioneered a genre-agnosticism that veered from squealing free-jazz saxophone to hammering drum grooves and aggressively processed cello, always anchored in Fratti’s soaring falsetto. It heralded the arrival of a group who embraced experimentation as much as earwormy melodies.
On Hagen, the duo double down on their convictions, complementing their unusual arrangements with a newfound pop shimmer. Opener Lágrima del Sol sets the tone: sparse hand claps and shards of distorted guitar mark the rhythm for Fratti’s lilting nursery rhyme melody, then clattering drums burst through. When the song feels on the verge of falling apart, it suddenly takes on shades of 80s synth-pop, with Fratti singing softly over Phil Collins-worthy toms and twinkling keys. This kind of joyous surprise recurs throughout the record. Escarbo Dimensiones develops from a minimal arrangement of drums, bass and atonal vocals into soft funk that nods to Sade. La Dueña slips from distorted cello and cymbal washes into a dramatic synth ballad that channels Kate Bush’s yearning vocals; La Trampa Sale erupts from a trudging beat into an arena-sized, reverb-laden chorus.
Cathartic moments of darkness temper their pop side: Gotera wrangles thundering metal blastbeats beneath Fratti’s elongated melodies; Gallina Degollada delivers unrelenting, menacing drums and growling bass. This startling balance underscores Hagen’s remarkable achievement: a reimagining of pop music that revels in lingering unease, challenging yet infectious.
Also out this month
Colombian musician Lucrecia Dalt releases A Danger to Ourselves (RVNG Intl), an intimate collection of longing vocal melodies accompanied by sparse drum loops and textural harmony. It’s downtempo and full of strange instrumental flourishes that draw the listener in. Moroccan producer Guedra Guedra’s latest album, Mutant (Smugglers Way), continues his exploration of north African rhythms, weaving dabke and gnawa percussive patterns into electronic drum programming and synth melody, creating a propulsive dancefloor explosion. West African percussion ensemble Balimaya Project’s debut collaboration with Colombian group Discos Pacífico All Stars, Calima (Jazz Re:freshed), is a fascinating fusion of African and Latin traditions, meandering from highlife to rumba, talking drum and Latin jazz horns, all held together by a relentless sense of groove.
