“Adiós” is a Spanish-language cover of Turkish ’70s singer Selda Bağcan‘s “Yaylalar. Natalia Clavier is a chanteuse of epic quality. If her work as a live singer with the famed DC group Thievery Corporation hasn’t convinced you, her debut on Nacional Records, Lumen, will blow you away. Aside from the downtempo and breakbeat we’ve come to expect from the Argentine singer, this album plays like a collection of craftily produced (and beautifully written) world-beat songs.
With the help of Grammy-Award-winning producer Adrian Quesada, Clavier has created an album with so many influences (yet so original and rewarding for the listener) that you just have to hear the whole record in one sitting. Tracks like “Everytime” and “El Tren” could’ve easily fit into a Portishead album, but Clavier’s sultry voice and electro-tango-influenced beats give the songs a sexy, lullaby quality. The record also features some of Clavier’s usual mix of Latin jazz and dub, with hints of dubstep and ska, making it a tropical affair with a chill mood.
Lumen includes collaborations from Brooklyn natives DJ Ursula 1000 (a fellow ESL music alum) and Ticklah that are well worth checking out. The album will be released on May 28th, but you don’t have to wait much longer to get a taste, because we have a FREE download of the album’s surprising ska-and-rock-nacional-influenced banger “Adiós!” featuring Quesada’s band The Echocentrics.
Download Natalia Clavier’s Lumen below: