The press from the record label ( and I didn't translate it!)
A first listen to Jabier Muguruza's new album might lead us to think it represents a somewhat radical change in his career. But we soon understand it as a coherent move in his constant search for an ever more basic, minimal, intimistic language.
On his eighth album as a singer-songwriter, Jabier presents himself before us with his voice and accordion backed only by an acoustic guitar and a female singer. Without a net.
It must be said, however, that the accompanists are not just any guitar player or just any vocalist. As is his custom, the singer chooses to be backed by musicians of a very high level, great artists who adapt perfectly to his suggestive, subtle, naked approach: guitarist Ángel Unzu, whose professional background proves him to be one of the most interesting players in the current musical scene, and young singer Mireia Otzerinjauregi, who will doubtless be regarded as a great discovery on account of her vocal abilities, her interpretive qualities and her overall versatility.
In the texts department, once again we find some of Jabier Muguruza's customary illustrious collaborators, such as Bernardo Atxaga, Iñaki Irazu, José Luis Padrón and Gerardo Markuleta... with a few contributions from some recognized Basque poets such as Harkaitz Cano, Kirmen Uribe... plus an occasional lyric by the singer himself.
The lyrical subjects are, as always, those who have obsessed Muguruza ever since he got started in the singer-songwriter's world: day-to-day themes, daily life, the territory of things that really matter to any individual person. All of it reflected, of course, in lyrics that are treated with all the subtlety and skill that characterize the great writers who sign them.
On top of it, the recordings were made at Katarain studios, with a sound quality guaranteed by no other engineer than Angel Katarain.
What the specialized critics have said:
"…I like its melancholy mood... just as this sultry evening smelling of heavy rain and the promise of a hotter temperature, just as the songs in your album, which seem to grow ever more naked so that the music and the almost whispered lyrics can wrap themselves around the emotions. Many small emotions are depicted in this album that speaks so much and so discreetly about the bigger ones." Lara López (TVE and Radio 3. member of WMCE)
…"A whole delicate web of day-to-day emotions. Lucid metaphores of life. With just a few sketches, he signs a beautiful, melancholy album of an autumnal, many-detailed character. His singing is tender and ironic. A wonderful album with which he reaches the essence of his work.." Carlos Galilea. El País.
…."A superlative singer-songwriter and an album with no stoptime. Songs which share Erik Satie's quietist inspiration and assume very unfrequent risks.." Luis Martín. ABC
…"Jabier is a great storyteller. He translates those stories, explains them and, what is more, sings them with all the intimacy one can feel at a cosy round table on a winter's night. " José Manuel Gómez, El Mundo.
El nuevo disco de Jabier Muguruza, en una primera escucha, nos puede llevar a pensar en un cambio relativamente radical en su carrera. Inmediatamente entendemos, sin embargo, que se trata de un salto coherente en su camino de constante búsqueda de un lenguaje cada vez más básico, más íntimo y minimalista.
En este octavo trabajo como cantautor, Jabier se nos presenta con el único arrope de una guitarra acústica y una voz femenina, acompañando a su voz y acordeón. Sin red.
Conviene aclarar, de todos modos, que no se trata de cualquier guitarra ni de cualquier voz. El autor, como siempre, se hace acompañar por músicos de gran nivel. Grandes artistas que se adaptan perfectamente a su concepto sugerente, desnudo y sutil: el guitarrista Angel Unzu, con toda una trayectoria profesional a sus espaldas que le avala como uno de los músicos más interesantes de la escena musical actual; y una joven cantante, Mireia Otzerinjauregi, que supondrá sin duda un gran descubrimiento, por su capacidad vocal, sus dotes interpretativas y su versatilidad.
En los textos, contamos una vez más, con algunos de los habituales colaboradores de lujo de Jabier Muguruza: Bernardo Atxaga, Iñaki Irazu, Jose Luis Padron, Gerardo Markuleta... más algunas nuevas aportaciones de poetas vascos de reconocido prestigio: Harkaitz Cano, Kirmen Uribe... y, como siempre, se incluye en el álbum algún texto del propio cantautor.
La temática, la de siempre, esa que obsesiona a Muguruza desde que se inició en el mundo de la canción de autor: lo cotidiano, la vida diaria, ese terreno en el que él considera que ocurre lo realmente importante para la persona, para las personas cogidas de una en una. Eso sí, letras tratadas con el oficio y la sutilidad de los grandes autores que las firman.
Y si todo esto fuera poco, una grabación efectuada en los estudios Katarain, con la garantía del sonido firmado por el propio Angel Katarain.
¿Quién se resiste?
Jabier Muguruza