Since the release of his ‘Folk Songs for Train Trees and Honey’ album back in 2000, you might be forgiven for thinking Scott Herren (a.k.a. Prefuse 73, a.k.a. Savath & Savalas) had sailed into a slinky red sunset of his own sumptuous imagination, and retired his meticulous eye for heavenly music in favour of sandals and margaritas. Well truth is, the sandals may still be in use – so too are the margaritas – but if the evidence here is anything to go by, Herren still has an ear for heavenly music.
‘Apropa’t’ is the cumulative result of 18 months based in Barcelona searching for his untold family roots and immersing himself in an altogether different culture indeed. Wheras previous incarnations have seen Herren spit up the spirit of hip-hop with the usual cocktail of fresh and frisky beats, his Savath & Savalas project exudes such a gentle pervasive calm that it literally ripples the senses and sends you drifting into a state of blessed near consciousness. It’s simple, it’s organic and it would be difficult to say one negative thing about. It is in fact so subtle, and so beautifully fragile that one could mistake its pale complexion for alabaster.
With Catalan singer/songwriter Eva Puyuelo Muns – Herren demonstrates a passion for South American music. From early 1970s Brazilian psychedelia to Afro, Cuban and Puerto Rican – the album is a veritable cocktail of classic sounds: nylon guitars, flutes, recorders, harmoniums, concertina, chamber orchestras, mandolins – you name it – if it sounds nice, Herren’s used it – yet it still seems somehow natural and well ‘glued’. In fact, this really has to be one of the best played and best conceived alternative albums in a long time. From the first delicate wrap of Spanish voices around the lightly tripping beats of ‘Te Quiero Pero Por Otro Lado..’ to the fizzing incantations of ‘Sigue Tu Camino’ ‘Apropa’t’ splices supple electronica and babbling chill-out with a dry Catalonia sadness. It’s cinematic, but it’s also entirely intimate at the same time – and an absolute must for anyone with even the remotest interest in Warp Records’ current roster of exceptional talents.
A little like Air (but without that same camp eagerness to please) a little like Sigur Ros (but without that same dire and pretentious other-worldliness) and a little like Astrud or Bebel Gilberto (without the same occasional and unanticipated jollity and poor attempts at English). It sounds like all this and more. Much more..