LA OTRA CARA

With a new flute player in its line-up, the Argentinean band Tánger recorded their second album, which surpasses their very good debut recording. The main factor for this improvement is basically that the instrumental ensemble feels tighter and more solid as a multi-part unit; concerning the writing, the tendency is the same as in their debut album, basic musical ideas that are only subtly developed in order to allow the guitarist and the flutist travel with some healthy dose of freedom without breaking the very spirit of each composition. The evocative 'Zobeida' kicks off the album with a powerful strike of melancholic lightning: despite its slow tempo and languid cadence, it really works as an effective opening number. Things start to get more directly exciting with the up tempo rocker 'Rock und Rolle' and the jazz rock driven intensity of 'Años' and 'Los Ritos'. The latter two are instilled with an unmistakable Crimsonian air, but Tánger always manages to avoid derivativeness; the same goes for the newcomer flutist Damián Lois (brother of guitarist Ignacio Lois), whose style is somewhat influenced by Ian Anderson's colorfulness, yet there is no cloning nor ripping off on absolutely any of his lines. Tracks 4-6, 10 find the band creating interesting excursion in Crimonian fields (circa 'Red' era), while keeping a sense of delicate instrumental harmony that allows the band to shine mostly as a whole unit: the trick for that is to stick to limited time spans when it comes to the development of the jams and solos, which are restricted to the confines concisely demanded by the main musical ideas written by bassist Luis Colucci. The namesake track is a catchy hard rock piece refashioned with clever touches of funky and blues. On the softer side of things, 'Evocación' resumes the sense of melancholy that had been previously portrayed in the opening cut, taking it to a more introspective level: what a proper title for such an evocative track. 'Chacales' takes the road of ethnic jazz fusion, and immediately after, 'La Trama' lays down an exquisite hard rocking closure to the album. It is clear that the band's credo is: reach for clever inventiveness while dispensing with any temptation of getting too lofty or pompous. All in all, "La Otra Cara" is an excellent example of the immense creativity that takes place in the current South American avant-garde rock scene.