Barbucha

The first solo album by the late Luis Trochón, a Uruguayan musician and teacher, who started his career as a member of protest song group Los Que Iban Cantando, makes merit from minimalism. The songs are spindly, their structures deceptively simple, following a thread of spirit that connects to other songwriters who hint at stream of consciousness – I’m thinking of moments like Mayo Thompson’s “Oyster Thins.” The stripped-back fragility of songs like “Rueda” and “Hay Veces” shadows other albums from a loosely similar timeframe – Joyce’s Passarinho Urbano, Brigitte Fontaine & Areski’s L’Incendie. It’s not quite austere, but it’s certainly pared-back, and its magic lies in the way Trochón squeezes so much emotional resonance out of such simple building blocks.