Cecilia Pastorino, Francisco del Pino
New Amsterdam Records, 2021
Hailed by Bandcamp Daily as “a stunning art-song hybrid”, Decir—“to say”—is a cycle of songs scored for voice, electric guitar, viola and percussion. A deliberately expressive and emotionally charged work, Decir puts voice and melody at the center of its statement. Notions of territory, migration, and memory permeate the album, which sets texts by Argentinian poet Victoria Cóccaro.
The music seeks to synthesize the immediacy of contemporary popular songwriting and the architecture of early counterpoint, and was written for and performed by a group of Argentinian musicians (Cecilia Pastorino, Daniela Cervetto, Pablo Jivotovschii and the composer himself on guitar) who are active in both the classical and vernacular music scenes.
The song titles—“el viento” (“the wind”), “el agua” (“the water”), “la piedra” (“the stone”), “el campo” (“the country”)—serve as a sort of map, leading the listener across a landscape that takes the form of a loop. Everything in Decir—both the music and the words as well as the album’s visuals, created by Argentinian artist Maximiliano Bellmann—revolves around repetition and pattern: words, sounds and images come and go in a constant stream of new meanings and echo one another in a multi-layered delay, a simultaneity of presents and presences.
Album credits
Cecilia Pastorino, vocals
Daniela Cervetto, drums & percussion
Francisco del Pino, electric guitar
Pablo Jivotovschii, viola
Victoria Cóccaro, spoken recitation in La piedra
Recorded at 0618 & Ideo Music, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Engineered, mixed and mastered by Pablo López Ruiz
All compositions by Francisco del Pino
All lyrics by Victoria Cóccaro
Lyrics translated by Victoria Cóccaro & Rebekah Smith
Artwork by Maximiliano Bellmann
Produced by Francisco del Pino
