Alegoria

by Gaby Moreno

Overview

Gaby Moreno is an L.A.-based, Guatemala-born singer, songwriter, and producer. After a wide-ranging handful of solo albums full of music that cuts across Latin and European traditions, blues, show tunes, country, and rock, she issued ¡Spangled! in 2019, a widely celebrated multilingual collaboration with composer/arranger Van Dyke Parks. It comprised songs from the three Americas, celebrating possibilities, perceptions, and cultural as well as economic roadblocks. The self-produced Alegoria offers a commanding lyrical palette no less authoritative and edifying. Moreno wrote these songs during the pandemic. Sung in English and Spanish, they reflect themes of desolation, nostalgia, hope, and love. She recorded them with a cast of her favorite session players. Opener "Nobody's Wrong" finds her rhythm section -- drummer Sebastian Aymanns and bassist Kimon Kirk -- in the company of go-to guitarist Marc Ribot and jazz organist Larry Goldings. The track crisscrosses rockabilly and country in a biting shuffle. Moreno's lyrics are a paean to cooperation, restraint, and tolerance. "Cuando Nadie Miraba" is a mysterious, noirish minor-key waltz whose title translates as "when no one is looking." Her alternately fingerpicked and strummed acoustic guitar and rhythm section are appended by the spooky lead guitar of David Garza and the keyboard atmospheres of Patrick Warren. The following "Til Waking Light," co-written with Nashville songwriters Jennifer Hanson and Jennifer Schott, is a hybridized meld of Texas country and Mexican cumbia; a waltz, it showcases the seamless interplay of both guitarists in its heartbreaking verses. "Si en el Fondo" (translation: "yes, deep down") is a breezy, summery pop/rock song in Spanish calling for direct communication between lovers. Moreno employs her glorious falsetto atop the shimmering B-3 of Tyler Chester and the slide guitar of Greg Leisz. Star mandolinist Chris Thile booked Moreno to play his NPR program Live from Here; he returns the favor on the romantic country waltz "Lost on a Cloud." "Maybe Today, Maybe Tomorrow" was co-written with Jesse Harris. It carries a distinctly cinematic vibe with its drifting Latin-ized surf guitars, rumbling tom-toms, and spacey strings; it would not have been out of place in barroom scenes of True Detective. Rachel Eckroth and Noah Georgeson assist Ribot on "Sonar Otra Vez," a dreamy, elegant romantic ballad that weds the dramatic traits of Roy Orbison and Julietta Venegas. Written with music theorist and historian Martha Gonzalez, it becomes a psychedelic tango thanks to Ribot's guitar playing; its passionate lyric showcases the dynamic range in Moreno's singing. Closer "El Merendero Gratuito" initially sounds like it could be Lydia Mendoza or even La Marisoul singing a forlorn ranchera with a band of mestizo vaqueros in a cantina. Co-written with her grandmother, it is performed in duet with Garza on guitar and piano. Alegoria is wonderful, evocative, searing, and true; it is Moreno's first recording to fully showcase her developed sophistication as a singer and a producer, as well as underscore her maturity as a songwriter. Get it. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	06/24/2022
Label:	Metamorfosis / Sony Music / Warner Music
UPC:	0658580424275

Tracks

1. Nobody's Wrong
2. Cuando Nadie Miraba
3. Til Waking Light
4. Si en el Fondo
5. Lost on a Cloud
6. Maybe Today, Maybe Tomorrow
7. So¿¿ar Otra Vez
8. Dulce Amor
9. Colibr¿¿
10. Lamento
11. El Merendero Gratuito

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Gaby Moreno   Primary Artist,Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Guitar (12 String),Vocals (Background)
Marc Ribot   Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Chris Thile   Vocals,Mandolin
Jim Keltner   Drums
Noah Georgeson   Synthesizer
Kimon Kirk   Bass
Sebastian Aymanns   Drums,Congas
Tyler Chester   Piano,Keyboards,Organ (Hammond)
Rachel Eckroth   Piano,Synthesizer
Elizabeth Goodfellow   Marimba
Karl Wingate   Vocals (Background)
Patrick Warren   Keyboards
Tony Scherr   Bass
Larry Goldings   Organ (Hammond)
Keefus Ciancia   Keyboards,Synthesizer
Greg Leisz   Slide Guitar
Eric Heywood   Pedal Steel
David Garza   Piano,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)

Technical Credits

Jennifer Hanson   Composer
Jesse Harris   Composer
Martha Gonzalez   Composer
Mike Piersante   Mixing,Engineer
Adam Levy   Composer
Chris Thile   Engineer
Noah Georgeson   Mixing,Engineer
Jennifer Schott   Composer
Leiva   Composer
Cheche Alara   Composer
Sebastian Aymanns   Engineer
Tyler Chester   Engineer
Rachel Eckroth   Engineer
Gaby Moreno   Composer,Engineer,Producer
Erica Canales   Composer
Santiago Larramendi   Composer,Translation
Elizabeth Goodfellow   Engineer
Vira Byramji   Engineer
Alejandra Barragan   Photography
Ryan Kelly   Engineer
Ulises Hadjis   Composer
Karl Wingate   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Blanca Rosa Porras Navarro   Composer
Brad Kayal   Design,Illustrations
Patrick Warren   Engineer,Programming
Keefus Ciancia   Engineer
David Garza   Engineer
Gavin Lurssen   Mastering
John Would   Engineer
Kaveh Rastegar   Composer
Lee Hazlewood   Composer