Juan Soto condenses the sound of a part of Mexico City’s nightlife—the hip and classy one—and brings it to you in 10 songs. Oscurecía is the debut solo album from the Mexican producer, but he’s no amateur. He has a number of singles and EPs under his wing, and has already played outside his country as part of Moon Runner, alongside Alec Sander.
This is a dance album from start to end, but it has the elegance of French house and electro, the bounciness of disco, and the accessibility of pop. And this is something he has in common with his buddy Bufi, who mixed and mastered the whole thing. The songs are filled with analog and soft synths, simple beats with detailed percussions, some arpeggiator and vocoder, and those bass sounds that pop to the ear. All elements that are more apparent in the instrumental pieces, but most of the songs include vocals—provided by Franca Arriola, Yesco, Juan Pablo de Santiago, and Soto himself—singing lyrics with mystic or interstellar themes, and switching languages back and forth from English to Spanish. By the way, the vocal melody on “Cristal Sagrado,” sung in triplets, begs for a tribal remix.
Oscurecía is out now on Sicario Music. Stream it below.