Mexico via Venezuela musician Ezequiel Bertho (aka Algodón Egipcio) is taking his sweet time to come out with the follow up album to his critically-acclaimed work La Lucha Constante, but lately he has been giving us a few gems to listen to while he’s finishing his next opus. Earlier this year, we got Canta: Lefse Records, a tribute to his favorite songs from many of his labelmates. Now he’s one-upping the ante with a brand new song.
“Multiestabilidad” is a song inspired by Mark Fell’s 2010 album Multistability, released by the cult electronic label Raster-Noton. It’s also a prominent source of many of the sounds Bertho uses to craft his song, which he has mangled and warped to his own liking. Instead of doing a straight up copy of Fell’s style to pay tribute, Algodón Egipcio has taken what he likes from it, compacted it into a 3:03 song, and injected it with many more elements to bring us something entirely different, while still sounding like he’s paying homage to his source material.
The song exploits the glitchy nature of Multistability to bring us a backing track that never seems to settle down into a groove, bringing sounds that tickle our fancy with each passing second. On top of it all, Bertho croons a sing-along melody and some heartfelt lyrics. The second half of the song is dancier, taking its cues from Chicago juke. Algodón Egipcio excels at crafting experimental and difficult electronic music that’s hard to grasp if you’re not too familiar with this kind of music. But he can easily turn it into something poppy and memorable. As if that weren’t enough, he makes fractured synths and textures into an irresistible dance party. Few can achieve — let alone master — one of these things; Bertho can do all of them magnificently in a single song. Not to mention the fact that he does it all in a little over three minutes, although he’s basically making a synthesis of a whole album.
“Multiestabilidad” was released in anticipation of Algodón Egipcio’s participation in the Pop Montreal festival on Friday, September 18, where he will share the stage with the likes of Will Butler (Arcade Fire) and many others. Of course, keep your eyes open for more info on his forthcoming album.