Sin Miedo (Del Amor Y Otros Demonios)

On her follow-up to 2018s star-studded, genre-blurring Isolation, Colombian-American singer Kali Uchis unapologetically arrives as a top-tier LatinX stylist. Miedo (Del Amor y Otros Demonios) Infinity whose title translates as Without Fear (Of Love and Other Demons) Infinity, is a radical next step. Rather that criss-cross neo-soul, EDM, and Latin pop, Uchis seeks to redefine the classic. Here she works with more LatinX-centered producers including Tainy and Manuel Lara, as well as Leeds-based pop visionary Josh Crocker. Uchis is fearless in stretching her sound past funky breaks, slippery R&B, and spaced-out jazz tropes to offer bracing evolutionary conceptions of reggaeton, cumbia, and boleros, seamlessly juxtaposing them with her own brand of Latin pop, jazz, and soul. In another assertion of her identity, she sings almost exclusively in Spanish. While there are a number of fine collaborations here, including the futurist Afro-Latin soul of Fue Mejor with PartyNextDoor (Jahron Anthony Brathwaite), the spiky trap of Aqui Yo Mando! with Rico Nasty, and the trap groove of La Luz with Jhay Cortez, the best jams are actually reinventions of vintage boleros such as opener La Luna Enamorada, a tune that dates back to the 1940s but was a 1964 hit for Cuban rockers Los Zafiros. She slows down the tempo, allows Crocker to thread incantatory beats and Beach Boys-style four-part harmonies into the mix, and follows the melody and form without deviation. Vaya con Dios -- an original, not the classic Mexican song -- is rendered with sampled strings, a low-tuned rubbery bassline, and reverbed guitars amid smoky hip-hop beats. When she reaches for her falsetto, she soars. Que Te Pedi is a classic Cuban bolero composed by Fernando Lopez Mulens and Gabriel Luna De la Fuente. Introduced by the sound of a radio dial slipping across stations, its stately horns, congas, and bassline frame her most dramatic, passionate singing on the album. De Nadie is a seductive Latin soul tune with alternating breaks and hip-hop beats, while self-composed closer Angel Sin Cielo is almost psychedelic as it drifts and hovers dramatically with bossa-styled acoustic guitars and her stretched and altered vocal pitches that bring her soprano down to tenor range and jazz phrasing. Sin Miedo (Del Amor y Otros Demonios) Infinity marks the spot where Uchis comes into her own, not only as a true song stylist but also as an innovator. ~ Thom Jurek

コロンビアをルーツに持つカリ・ウチスのスペイン語アルバムとなった2020年作が、奇遇にもグラミーにノミネートされたタイミングにデラックス・エディションでフィジカル化。前作『Isolation』からの様変わりっぷりは言わずもがな、タイニーやサウンウェイヴをプロデュースに迎えた濃い口の歌唱で妖艶なレゲトンやスムースなベッドルームR&Bを聴かせてくれる。SZAをフィーチャーした最新シングル"Fue Mejor"もボーナス収録。
bounce (C)轟ひろみ