Best of 2018 #10: Juan Ibarra – “NauMay”

“This kind of melodic drama would leave the Brian Blade Fellowship awestruck” is how I concluded my synopsis of Juan Ibarra‘s NauMay for The Bandcamp Daily, adding that “arguably no other album in 2018 took melodies to euphoric levels” as did the drummer on his 2018 release.  I’m still left awestruck, myself, at this intensely beautiful recording.  I just adore when musicians take a lovely, well-crafted melody and ride it all the way out to the horizon and beyond, giving the sensation of a long, eventful journey, before finally returning to that opening melody, and, appropriately, a feeling of finally returning to a familiar and welcoming home.  This is not groundbreaking or experimental music.  It is an excellent example of how much freedom and power can still be generated by the established modern sound of today, and how the personality of musicians and their combined vision can weave magic from the common tools of their trade.

The album is Self-Produced.

Music from Montevideo, Uruguay.

Read more on Bird is the Worm.

Available at:  Amazon | Bandcamp