Clearly announced by Scott Herren on his website as
the last collaboration with singer Eva Puyeulo Muns,
with whom he wrote the superb Apropa’t,
the second Savath & Savalas album, after the pair
obviously went their separate ways, Mañana
gives Herren the opportunity to revisit his Latin roots
and let his more laidback side take the lead.
Although best known for his ground-breaking Prefuse
73 project, Atlanta-born and bred Scott Herren has infiltrated
the music industry under a variety of pseudonyms over
the years, from his original Delarosa & Asora and
Savath & Savalas projects to the more recent Piano
Overload or La Correction, a collaboration with DJ Nobody.
Constantly searching for new grounds to explore, it
is with Savath & Savalas mark two that he returned
earlier this year. The first incarnation of the project
first surfaced at the beginning of 2000 with the pastoral
Folk Songs For Trains & Honey, originally
released on Hefty before being snapped up by Warp. Four
years on, Herren took advantage of his moving to Barcelona
and meeting Spanish singer Eva Puyeulo Muns to give
Savath & Savalas a new face, inhabited by Latin
influences and the ghost of his Spanish father. The
result, Apropa’t,
certainly took his fans by surprise, but the album’s
intrinsic beauty and honesty proved as successful as
his Prefuse releases.
The first impression on Savath & Savalas’s
follow up mini album is that of slight disappointment.
Where Apropa’t
was sucking up every drop of sun and turning them into
sweet honey, Scott Herren’s subtle acoustic-driven
melodies woven into Eva Puyeulo Muns’s breezy
vocals to perfection, Mañana appears
as if crushed by the heat, too worn-out to attempt even
the slightest movement. Yet, the essence of this companion
to Apropa’t
is to be found elsewhere. Where Apropa’t
was straightforward, stating its influences and roots
clearly, Mañana is more volatile, less
predictable, as if distorted by whatever animated the
relationship between Herren and Muns. Songs become progressively
difficult to identify despite the variety of tone and
influences, from Afro-Cuban to South American. The eight
tracks presented here are more than simple album outtakes
compiled to please fans. The mood is clearly more experimental,
as if the Prefuse persona was fighting to come out and
trash the blissful atmospheres. There are hints of Herren’s
cut’n’paste technique on Interludio
Inconcreto, Dema Vindra or the charming
Sense Pressa, but all remain surprisingly contained
until the dying moments of Mañana. If
perversions can be felt, they can almost undoubtedly
be attributed to Herren alone, and could well be the
result, or the cause, of the pair parting company.
If this record seems to give Scott Herren the opportunity
to close this Latin-inspired chapter of his Savath &
Savalas incarnation, it gives very little insight on
where he will be found wandering next. Yet, after the
stunning ambiences of Apropa’t,
Scott Herren reclaims the ownership of his project,
looking back one last time before pursuing his journey.
4/5 |
