XUNTAS

When this stifling purgatory reluctantly relents and I can travel the world again, I plan to go to wherever Pablo Ursusson and his enchanting project are performing, spend the day over compensating for prolonged seclusion by turning every stone inside out, and ultimately collapse into an impossible barstool as their enchanting and ethereal folk songs and dances purify me. Or maybe I will be lucky and the performance will be around a campfire, more directly connected with Pabs' natural muse. I've never met him, but I cannot imagine that music this magical could be conjured by a boor, and anyway, this is a man who still acknowledges the eternal inspiration ("melodies from the otherworld") of early collaborator Jorge Olson de Abreu who sadly passed before their first full length album was released. From this, their latest effort, I have to say that perhaps he is correct, or just modest and gracious. Yes.

On "Xuntas", SANGRE DE MUERDAGO mount their cauldron back on simmer - always simmer - and their rooted stew of somber yet uplifting earth scented and centered folk, classical, and psych. The juxtaposition of reverent harmonies - on about half the tracks - and simple wholesome arrangements on acoustic and classical guitar, flute, strings, and even harp and hurdy gurdy luxuriate the sound in a manner that can only be achieved with less. In some paradoxical way, Pablo may have acquired this gift through his participation in the Spanish punk scene decades ago, or, perhaps more likely, it's innate.

I'm slightly more partial to the vocal numbers here, with the title cut and especially "Como un Bico" soaring in their gentility, but "Unha das peores" achieves similar goals without voice, while the curt "Maria solina" is distinct in its use of what sounds like human whistle, and the closing number deploys a "music box" just in case you still aren't relaxed enough to attain blissful slumber.

Hopefully before too long artists like SANGRE DE MUERDAGO and the audience they nurture can reunite. A vaccine alone cannot touch the healing that occurs when we are really together, to celebrate this music of the spirit.