Sonocardiogram

Fronting big bands by 14, Cuban singer Daymé Arocena is now 27 and releasing her fourth album for Brownswood Recordings, headed up by Gilles Peterson. Her previous albums have explored a myriad of styles from jazz to rumba. Sonocardiogram sees Arocena consolidating her unique style, which is strongly rooted in Santería – a religion she has followed since she was 22.

The first section of the album (there are three), Trilogía, is a piece broken into three parts, each for a different orisha (Santería deity). ‘Oshún’ (a goddess who can invoke love, sensuality and fertility) is heralded by aching counterpointed harmonies and rolling piano arpeggios, a nod to Arocena's classical training. The song morphs steadily into jazz drum kit speaking the interlocking language of batá, piano figures and angular synth melodies. The second section, Suite ‘Cinco Maneras de Amar’, takes on a different character to Trilogía, with bump-and-grind backbeats, funky bass parts, whirring synths, chugging brushed snares and urgent, soulful and embellished vocals.

Recorded in a multipurpose art space rather than a studio, this album is both sonically and emotionally raw. The opener ‘Nangareo’, an ambient wash of ocean and wind heard alongside Arocena's spine-chilling spoken devotions and sung refrains, is a tribute to El Nangaré, the Santería ceremony held on the day of a divination. There is so much depth and beaut to this music and I implore you to explore it.