Las Fuerzas Almadas

Dat Garcia is the first solo female artist on Buenos Aires’ ZZK Records, which has spearheaded a neo-electro-folk scene in the city. The indie label’s accent across 25 or so artists is on the local side though not indigenous, rootsy but not rural, and a certain club-friendliness, in tune with Argentina’s aspirational alt-hipster scene. Garcia’s two previous albums were the introspective, minimalist debut Ermitaño Interior (2014) and sweetly melancholy Maleducada (2017), recorded in hospital during chemotherapy. Las Fuerzas Almadas (Soulful Forces, a pun on Armed Forces) is in the same serene and sombre, vaguely malcontented vein. Opener ‘Todo es Conectividad’ is spoken rap over single-note keyboard. ‘Todos Tienen un Plan’ builds through water-drop electronic pulses to a sort of soft ominousness. ‘El Dia Fuera del Tiempo’ is a pop song of the Juana la Loca anti-catchy variety. It’s all assertively lo-fi, basic, surrounded by empty space. Charango and ronroco are used sparingly, and sublimated to synthetic effects. Garcia’s vocals are raw and raspy. She can hold a note, but prefers to use her voice for sonic contortions. She seems to automatically revert to rap, as a culturally neutral and perhaps genderless medium.

Tired of ‘passionate’ and heartfelt Latinos and Latinas? Well, this is the music of a brain processing, of an Argentinian women challenging dated and hateful hegemonies. She calls the album ‘a love song for the earth, a call to combat psychological apathy, the inertia of digital communication and reconstruct magical bonds with the everyday.’ Like much postmodern art, the caption is more interesting than the product. This is ultra-contemporary music, somehow containing the crassness it sets out to critique.