Nicolas Jaar returns this month with another meandering and experimental collection of electronic tracks on his new album Sirens.
Although he was born in New York, it is Santiago de Chile, the birthplace of his parents, that has had the greatest impact on Jaar’s work. He spent seven years there as a child and the hispanic tinge is often a tangible influence in his most popular tracks, with Spanish language samples and traditional Chilean guitar featuring on 2010’s Mi Mujer and others such as Colomb and El Bandido.
While the rest of the album flits between crashing symbols, abstract vocal snatches, profound silences and guitar riffs in indie style, No recaptures that mesmeric, familiar and melancholic hispanic feel. In a politically charged track with the the US Presidential elections approaching, Jaar’s voice drifts over a repetitive synth with lyrics harking back to a 1988 referendum to decide whether Chile should continue under a brutal dictatorship. Jaar’s response is clear; No.
Sirens is out on 30th September.
