Gabriel Garzón-Montano
Agüita
Jagjaguwar
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Gabriel Garzón-Montano splays out under a verdant canopy on the cover of his new album Agüita. Unencumbered by any name or title, it’s an admitted homage to Prince’s daringly bare Lovesexy (1988), but that respectful nod is where the similarity stops. Except…he writes, plays multiple instruments, produces his own songs, and sometimes uses a pseudonym to do so. That’s a bit Prince-like. And he doesn’t mind rocking some heels. But other than that, the Brooklyn native does his own thing.
That thing got him sampled on Drake’s “Jungle,” providing a significant profile boost prior to his 2017 debut Jardín for Stones Throw. And it has now attracted the attention of Jagjaguwar, where Moses Sumney and Bon Iver’s careers are flourishing. A joint push from both companies promises to get Garzón-Montano in front of an even larger audience. What does one do with such an audience? The genre-defiant Agüita says, “Whatever the hell I want.”
If Agüita wants to sound like the art-pop score of a Paul Thomas Anderson film, it can do that. If it wants to pull at the seams of the R&B pocket Jardín nestled into, it can do that too. If it wants to rip that fabric open like Bruce Banner becoming—you know what, scratch the ifs. All of this is happening. GGM is transforming into the Hulk on this record. One can expect to be manhandled. Banner only had two personalities; Garzón-Montano splits himself into three.
The first character, the Wistful Impressionist, is introspective, musically quizzical and gets the lion’s share of playtime. In one instance, the ghostly and vulnerable single “Bloom” locks arms with Bebel Gilberto and Thom Yorke, towing their vocal influences alongside it. In another, his audio wanderlust yields best results on the dirge-like opener “Tombs,” with its muddy, thudding drums and Nightmare Before Christmas–inspired pizzicatos. Garzón-Montano is especially gifted at choosing chords that suspend and wobble in mid-air like a hanging mobile. Depending on the breeze, you get calamity or ecstasy, but the suspense is always enchanting.
Next, as the Debonair Leading Man, Garzón-Montano dons a more accessible R&B sound while bearing his soul. The scratch of his voice on “With A Smile” etches out a love song that endears without cloying (“Fantasy / I never tasted something so nasty and sweet / You had me tripping with a smile / Something melancholy had come over me”).
The juiciest bite on the album is its lovelorn lead single “Someone” about the downsides of an ambiguous situationship (“Kissed me, pulled back and said / ‘Not tonight, but can I get some head?’ / It hurt me, had to double take / I went ahead and did it anyway”). Vacated of hi-hats, “Someone” carries a dramatic loneliness that only accentuates its bare bones funk. The two elements confect like salt and caramel. Once the track has done what it needs to do, it’s hard not to walk away still singing, “I needed you / I don’t know what to do / You / Took your lovin’ from me / And you gave it to someone new.”
A third costume change into Latino Urbano Hitmaker finds the French-Colombian music auteur recording in Spanish for the first time. He sounds very much at home on the reggaeton single “Muñeca.” And the infectious pop, clack, and rumble of “Mira My Look” is only enhanced by the exaggerated egotism of its hook (“You’re drippin’ today, boo!”).
Speaking of which, “Agüita” means “drip” or “droplet.” Its multiple meanings—swagger and fashion, cleansing tears, sustaining water—all reach peak potency on the spitfire title track where he raps in Spanish over a trap beat (“A ver si les muestro un nuevo estilo / ‘toy emparamao / dios mío”). Roughly translated, that’s “Let's see if I show you a new style / I'm soaked / my god.”
The trichotomy that is Agüita could be presented as three separate EPs, but then an angry Garzón-Montano takes a meat cleaver to them, chopping until he feels better. He tosses the jumbled chunks onto a platter with garnish and sauce, and voilà. The track listing is served. By the way, that anger is only directed at the constriction of genre, intently focused on forcing its walls open. (Sorry if the sauce got on you.)
Though Agüita‘s sequencing is aurally jarring, this sound expansion is a smart move so early in his career. Fanbases can be finicky once they decide what they do or don’t want. He sets the rules early though, essentially saying, “I call dibs on… everything.” And the territory claimed has been handled smashingly. So if he wants anything else in the future? Let him have it.
Notable Tracks: “Agüita” | “Mira My Look” | “Someone” | “Tombs”
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