Juana Molina

Halo CRAMMED DISCS. CD/DL/LP

Finest yet from idiosyncratic Argentinian electronicist.

Twenty-five years ago, Juana Molina swapped success as a TV-sketch comic for uncharted sonic waters, like an Argentinian Julie Walters ditching Acorn Antiques to become Aphex Twin instead. Her seventh album is a sui generis treat where acoustic and electronic elements thrive in magical harmony, happening upon moments of unlikely pop along the way. The more abstract passages – the beatless, sleepy-eyed chiaroscuro of Lentísimo Halo, the gorgeous, twilit writhing of Cálculos Y Oráculos – are muted, melodic puzzles that never relinquish their intrigue. Her more rhythmically charged tracks, meanwhile, infest her subterranean folksong with sleekly perverse funk, be it the surging bass lines that propel Sin Dones to its bristling climax, the snares, delirious whispers and firefly synth that swarm around In The Lassaa, or the fractured blues licks throughout A00 B01. Halo dips deep into the unknown and brings back unexpected brilliance.