Words by Justin Turford
In a world seemingly hellbent on returning to political tribalism and the separation of others, communal shamanic energy is much appreciated and required. The conjoining energy of real life married couple and creative explorers Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Frank Rosaly on their debut album together offers a very personal story that also manages to harness powerful spirits that surge through the earth and across the sky, traversing continents and histories. Ritual, groove, melody and experiment coexist in their intercontinental time travel. Post-rock, ancient and contemporary Latino rhythms, South American folkloric research, out there electronics, psychedelia and avant-jazz roar are beautifully mixed (both production wise and culturally stirred) into, for me, one of the best albums of the year so far.
I had the pleasure of randomly (synchronicity) meeting the couple at the celebratory ChicagoXLondon extravaganza at the Barbican in 2022. Amongst many a conversational subject, they were excitedly musing about and visualising the making of this record, their obvious full immersion in an artist’s life leaving a deep impression on me. At an after event that hosted many of the Chicago label International Anthem’s artistic roster, the humility of the duo and the label’s own progressive ‘art first’ attitude promised a perfect home for them. Indeed, several inhabitants of International Anthem’s galaxy appear as contributors on the record.
Wielding incantations and spiritual female energy like paintbrushes, Bolivian born Ibelisse’s multi-disciplinary practice involves body movement, theatre, music and more, whilst Frank hails from the United States (though is actually from Puerto Rico), a jazz and improvisational drummer and musician of remarkable dexterity and power who has played with the late jaimie branch amongst many great artists; the Amsterdam-based couple highly experienced in the art of collaboration and creativity.
Photo by GUMO
An album about identity and living between cultures, the title ‘MESTIZX’ is a genderless form of the Spanish term ‘Mestiz’ which is used to describe those of mixed European (usually Spanish) and indigenous heritage (from wherever in the former Spanish Empire). Frank’s own journey as a ‘hidden’ Puerto Rican is illuminating - “Growing up in Arizona, discouraged to learn Spanish or identify as Puerto Rican, kept me at a distance from those territories. Yet my own ‘discovery’ of bomba, plena, jibaro into son, salsa, music of Yoruba and other Afro-Cubano lineages, and since 2008, pre-colonial Indigenous Taino studies, has precipitated in teaching me the silent songs of those who have inhabited these ancestral territories….This record is the first time I actively give voice to the nuance within myself..”
Ibelisse’s story encompasses both Bolivia and Brazil - “In Bolivia, we often shared nostalgic songs that touched the lives of my dad – howling, banging on his guitar – mom and extended family. In Brazil as well: my grandfather Pedro Ferragutti, a fanfare composer and saxophonist,would sit us down and have us listen to numerous dance and song forms. I recall the tornado of emotions listening to this music, which were like letters from the souls of my lineage from both the Bolivian and Brazilian diasporas. Through those songs, they were teaching me who they were, and who we were.”
As the liner notes explain, together and separately, they dived with both curiosity and courage, into their respective ‘homelands’, searching for truths and learnings that revealed and challenged their cellular and historical identities as both the coloniser and colonised - a liminal existence that many in the world experience. Painfully aware of their sometimes ‘outsider’ position, the music they have created has become a healing balm of sorts - “We felt a shared kinship and grief in this estrangement, worthy of addressing. We experience our ancestral homes as intrinsically distant, and share an urgency to connect deeper with our ancestral lineage. Through our talks, travels and this shared longing, both a nostalgia and a healing process were ignited within us. This commenced a deep journey to grasp the historical reasons on why these separations are so loud. This process continues to be a painful one, so we began to absorb practices, readings and a multiplicity of teachings to align in love and listening to our histories.”
Having said all of the that, let’s not worry that this is a stern exercise in anthropological research, this album burns hot with groove, sensuality and fearsome abandonment at times! Like all releases on International Anthem, there’s a feeling of an ‘event’ about this record. Existing in the ‘in between’ means that all of your chosen inspirations can be involved and despite the myriad of musical and cultural collisions on ‘MESTIZX’, never does it feel forced or incongruous. They have created their own world here, an accessibly avant-garde world of mystical otherness and feet-in-the-dirt groove. Beauty, nature, the noises and filth of the city, ancestral echoes and the future combining with great songwriting and performances into a timeless piece of art.
Stick some good headphones on and you can hear multiple layers of complex, ingenious contributions from the players. Expertly mixed by Dave Vettraino, the density of sonic ideas in each song is astounding. The incredible cornet and flute arrangements by the hugely gifted Ben LaMar Gay and Rob Frye on lead single ‘DESTEJER’ are as inventive as any tricky avant-garde number but they slot in perfectly, never distracting us away from the brilliance of the song, a percussion heavy carnaval swinger that could be a storm-raising Stereolab if they were on the vintage Ecuadorian label Caiffe. Ibelisse’s instantly memorable vocals penetrate through the swirling clouds of synth and keyboard lines, while veteran Chicago bassist Matt Lux gives a masterclass in restraint and swing. Majestically hypnotic, ‘DESTEJER’ is one of my songs of the year.
Album opener ‘INVOCAÇÃO’ is a journey by itself. A delicate mbira melody leads the way as evocative synths and lovely piano chords by Chris Doyle (who appears throughout the album) are the comforting bed for Ibelisse’s soothing lullaby-esque voice, the invocation of the song’s title apparent in its pre-ritual, sage-burning calmness before a dramatic change in mood and sound as drones and crunching drum machines reveal another stage to the spell. Acting as an unconventional high priestess, Ibelisse’s voice is as varied as the wind’s directions. Coaxing and sensual on a track like ‘DESTEJER’, she can also employ a sharpened punkish edge to her singing voice, and it is here, in the second part of this song that it first appears.
Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti by Saskia Ludden
The grinding industrial tropicalia of ‘BALADA PARA LA CORPORATOCRACIA’ is a factory of percussion and wild noises as fellow International Anthem artist Daniel Villareal joins them on congas and extra percussion. Matt Lux’s deconstructed bass sounds brutalised by effects pedals as Ibelisse weaves danger for the corporate bosses.
The short but hard-driving ‘TURBULÊNCIA’ is the party-starter on the record. Highlife-ish electric guitar by guest Bill MacKay, a bass and percussion section that resembles a more organic, live sounding Mood II Swing groove, cheeky synth countermelodies and Ibelisse’s acoustic guitar attack and powerful syncopated vocal raising the dead. Frank’s multi-limbed drumming is quite something on this one, a bubbling, tumbling array of polyrhythms that could power a village.
The album’s title track ‘MESTIZX’ is a beautiful guitar led song about the nature of their complex identities - “Soy el problema y soy la respuesta” (Tr: I am the problem and I am the answer) is just one of the contradictions Ibelisse describes in perhaps her loveliest vocal on the album. The song demands repeated listens as the drowsy, dreamlike atmosphere clouds whispers of gentle instrumentation. Mikel Patrick Avery (Natural Information Society) adds woodblock, chacapa and cowbell as Frank and Ibelisse summon harmonics and waves from their vintage keyboards. Genuinely gorgeous.
There’s definitely something a bit Thom Yorke about the moody ‘BARRO’. Her voice slightly robotised and Frank’s Tony Allen inspired drum patterns the accessible parts of a hauntingly downbeat tune that descends into a discordant environment of broken piano strings and locked synthesiser squalls. Quietly captivating, Chris Doyle’s piano keeps it blue in hue.
The thumb-powered mbira takes the lead again on ‘SABER DO MAR’, a richly layered hymn of percussion and minimalistic countermelodies. Bill MacKay on the requinto guitar weaves inside the mbira line as Ibelisse invokes the spirits of the sea in Portuguese (she writes and sings in Spanish, Portuguese and English on the album). Spiritually charged, its slow-burning ritualistic ambience is awash with grace and saudade.
Frank Rosaly by Saskia Ludden
The only voice on the thunderous interlude ‘BLESS THEE MUNDANE’ is an audio recording of the found object installation performance artist Viktor Le Givens explaining how the mundane leads to the cosmic, the ordinary becoming the extraordinary as Frank builds levels of drums and synths.
The heavy rumble of ‘DESCEND’ sees Ibelisse utilising English this time as her vehicle for manifestation as she calls to the Earth. Pummelling toms, frenetic guiros and a core-piercing bass are the soil, the squealing synths and Ibelisse’s voice (s) breathy, disjointed and delayed into controlled chaos..
“Seeking places of power, I descend to the soil..
The future will come forth, an opportunity to shape-shift..”
The full force of the duo’s incantatory power is unleashed on ‘WRITING WITH KNOTS’. Ben LaMar Gay and Rob Frye return on cornet and flute, blasting and screaming over the relentless central riff while harp, bells and additional drummer Avreeayal Ra joins Frank in an explosion of disorder. Ibelisse at her fiercest proclaiming..
“Worlding incantations
Writing with knots
I conjure
The crossroads
Oracles
Of migrant, fugitive, diasporic,
Mobile pasts..”
This astonishing album ends with ‘SIRINUS’, the evocative Ethiopian / Eritrean krar, the leading instrument on this trance-inducing spell. Fredy Velásquez’s harmonica adds dissonant textures as a multiplicity of percussion instruments rattle and shudder behind Ibelisse’s final words, delivered as though whispered directly into the ear.
I held back on writing this review (despite having the record for a while) until after I had the chance to witness them do it live, which was possible last week at the beautiful Church Of Sound in East London. A double-header gig alongside an equally extraordinary performance from Ruth Goller and her Skylla project, which saw Frank joining them complete with animal skull mask; their performance of ‘MESTIZX’ in this centuries old church was phenomenal and ecstatic. Joined by Matt Lux, Ben LaMar Gay, the multi-instrumentalist Ben Boye and Alabaster DePlume, they painted ancient colours and spells in the air, the potent and earthy viscerality of their playing combining into a true feeling of communality and shared ritual. Being able to share it with a few of my favourite people was something for the collective memory box!
‘MESTIZX’ is a heavy record. Touched with magic, history, rage and love, the duo have grabbed strands of the untold and told past, reclaiming their present as perceived outsiders who care deeply, in order to create something for the future. On the surface, this is just a brilliant record that straddles so many global musical inspirations, it’s hard to keep track but dive in and listen properly and you will feel connection. A connection we all need. 10/10