De Facto is the fifth album from Mexican duo Lorelle Meets the Obsolete and the first to be recorded in the home studio of core members Lorelle (Lorena Quintanella) and The Obsolete (Alberto González). The change has certainly served them well, seemingly freeing them up and giving them room to move.
Movement is what De Facto is all about, you see. Whether it’s the shifting dynamics of the psychedelic instrumentals or the proud, propulsive wallop of the hypnotic grooves, Lorelle Meets the Obsolete have taken a bold step forward with this release.
There is a densely layered structure to the songs here – a purposeful placing of pieces. The drums (provided by touring band member Andrea Davi) anchor while the bass (Fernando Nuti) and synthesizer (José Orozoco Mora) give body and soul in the form of tones and grooves. The guitars feel, and sound, like final flourishes, a second fix – albeit one that could give you third-degree tinnitus. In short, these are songs that have been built – and built to last at that.
The heavy weather drones of opener “Ana” are really a drop of the shoulder, drawing us one way before Quintanella and González sprint off in the opposite direction with the shiny, upbeat almost-pop of “Líneas en Hojas”. Weighing in at three and a half minutes, it boasts admirable economy and a fierce guitar squall to counter light with dark.
It’s a template that they use to good effect elsewhere, too. “Acción – Vaciar” and “Lux, Lumina” are perhaps the best examples, the latter evoking the spirit of Can in its shuffling groove, before falling into a heady chasm of noise.
Meanwhile, “Unificado”, which sits between these two at the album’s heart is, to put it bluntly, an utter monster of a tune. Building from fractured, cinematic art-folk to fiery, defiant repetitive blasts that spit fire and live urgency, it is also satisfyingly long.
The similarly lengthy closer, “La Maga” uses the same repletion, but to very different effect. A lazy, dreamy refrain is propelled by a simple, motorik beat, gently shifting, subtly changing, leaving plenty of space in which the listener can get lost. Preferably, for days.
