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La Candela del Río

04/12/2018Paris-based Venezuelan Fourpiece Insólito UniVerso Releases Fascinating Debut
 

This might very well be the first Venezuelan release featuring on Greedy, but what a beauty it is. Based in Paris, Venezuelan quartet Insólito Universo just released its wondrous 8-track debut album "La Candela del Río" on Colectivo Futuro's Olindo Records that has us all in a frenzy, positively speaking. The project came together back in 2016, when lead singer María Fernanda Ruette and bassist Raúl Monsalve got together in a combined effort to take "Venezuelan music to unheard realms".

Fusing "traditional Venezuelan styles such as joropo, merengue caraqueño, or tambores de San Millán with psych, chanson, [baroque] and contemporary electronics," the group creates original compositions, unique in sound and arrangement, that evoke a sense of forward-thinking nostalgia, while retaining their organic feel and keeping listeners on their heels. As such, "La Candela del Río" is hard to pigeonhole; gleeful, borderline euphoric and danceable on the one hand, yet melancholy, poetic, mysterious and brimming with devotion on the other.  

The fascinating debut album was co-produced by none other than Malcolm Catto of The Heliocentrics and was preceded by a limited 7" release in July, featuring album track "Vuelve" on the A-side and "Décima" on the B-side. The latter is not on the album. Head over to Bandcamp to stream/buy "La Candela del Río" in full. Also, don't miss out on Insólito Universo's new mix for The Vinyl Factory as they continue "to explore the roots and branches of Venezuelan music." 

Insolíto UniVerso are
María Fernanda Ruette (cuatro & vocals)
Raúl Monsalve (bass & FX)
Edgar Bonilla Jiménez (keys)
Andres Sequera (drums) 

AUTHOR: Lev Nordstrom