Cali

As much as I try, I can't get on with Pixvae. Cali is their second album and it very much picks up where the last one left off, with the group augmenting traditional songs from Colombia's Afro-Pacific coast with electric guitar, drum kit and occasional sax or keyboard. The problem is the angular nature of the guitar, and its uncomfortable juxtaposition with the flowing back-and-forth of these mostly traditional songs.

The intention seems to be to add power to the ensemble, guitar riffs and booming drum hits intensifying the emotion. In reality, they dissipate the beautiful harmonies of these tracks and make insignificant any percussion work, so overpowering are the guitar and drums. It's like being at a festival and trying to experience a glorious soulful folk group while an amped-up rock band play on the next stage, their harsh tones bleeding into the generationally curated sound of their less boisterous counterparts. ‘Canto de Lejos’, in which the guitar opts for a gentler fuzzed-up motif, and final track ‘La Canción del Camino’, which keeps the fusion down to purposeful drum hits and vibrating organ, show that subtlety and a winning formula is possible, but too often they opt for big, brash and infuriating.