Debit’s “Desaceleradas” Deconstructs Cumbia into Haunting Ambient Soundscapes
London – Argentinian producer debit has radically reimagined Afro-Latin club sounds on her new album, Desaceleradas, slowing and warping customary cumbia into an unsettling and ethereal sonic experience.Released this month, the album-featuring tracks like “La Ronda y el Sonidero” and “Cholombia, MTY”-isn’t simply a deceleration of tempo, but a granular dissection of sound that evokes “nightmare fairground music and yearning drones,” according to a review in The Guardian.
Beatriz,as the artist is known,employs tape hiss,reverb,and melodic warping to transform the recognizable cumbia shuffle and synth melodies into something alien and disorienting. The review notes that arrangements force listeners to confront “the innate strangeness of the present moment,” with single synth tones stretched into “harsh industrial distortion.” This creates a sensation likened to seasickness, deliberately avoiding the comfort of typical ambient music. instead, Desaceleradas demonstrates how slowness and subtlety can generate “dread and discomfort.”
The album is already garnering attention for its innovative approach to deconstruction and its ability to find tension within minimalist soundscapes.Desaceleradas is available now.
Also released this month: Peruvian producer Alejandra Cardenas (Ale Hop) debuts her album A Body Like a Home (Other People); Amsterdam-based Archipelago Beat’s self-titled debut transforms Indonesian roar into psychedelic shimmer (Glitterbeat); and Sarathy Korwar’s there Is Beauty, There Already (Otherland) presents a 40-minute continuous drumming suite.
