Amargo

The poetry of Andalusian hero Federico García Lorca is the conceptual centrepiece of Amargo. This is best exemplified on the track ‘Alba’, which preserves Lorca’s lyrical metres and makes good use of strummed nylon-string guitars and woody percussion to softly evoke the sounds and rhythms of Granada. However, these successes are patchy. Lorca is perhaps best known as the poet of duende, that state of seductive musical ecstasy so strongly associated with flamenco. Yet the tracks on Caprice’s Amargo often meander at a medium tempo. A wide range of classical instrumentation is on display, but too often the arrangements feel contrived and lack a sense of direction. It feels jumbled – both stylistically and conceptually. Listeners with a taste for eclectic, neo-folksy arrangements may find the soaring soprano vocals and quaint accompaniments to their liking. But I, for one, am left pondering what Lorca himself would have made of all this.