Ela Minus is a synth wizard. She’s even engineered the electronic instruments that she’s uses to craft her music, including 2020’s breakthrough debut LP, Acts Of Rebellion. But for Corazón, the Colombian’s upcoming collaborative EP with New York-based producer DJ Python, she took a backseat instrumentally and focused instead on just lyrics and vocals. On “Pájaros En Verano” the first single from the newly-announced EP, the result is sublime.
“It’s way more intimate and vulnerable,” Minus says of only focusing on the words for a change. “I want people to listen to the songs and feel like I’m holding onto them. I’m giving people a place in this EP where they can feel like they belong.”
The EP (which is actually titled with just a heart symbol) comes out on September 14th via Smuggler’s Way, the new electronic-focused imprint of London’s famed Domino Records.
“We literally didn’t talk about how the tracks should sound,” Python added. “I sent her instrumentals and she sent them back with perfect vocals. It was this unspoken communication, a process to know the self and the other endlessly.”
Their connection is palpable on “Pájaros En Verano,” a track that Python crafted using an Octatrack sampler and a Virus TI Snow digital synth. The drums hit with a cymbal-like hiss and the loops buzz with sweet melodies; melodies that are felt even deeper through Ela Minus’ vocals as she sings, “After all the days that never happened and the nights that didn’t exist.”
The tune shows a deep appreciation for the time we were afforded to focus on the world around us during the pandemic’s loneliest days. “I made a list of things I was grateful for,” Minus said. “Clouds (and the time to look at them),quietness, sleep, books, food. I wanted to celebrate that ‘after all the days that never happened and the nights that didn’t exist,’ we are here, alive, and together.”
Listen to “Pájaros en Verano” above and check out the Corazón album art and tracklist below.
1. “Kiss U”
2. “Abril Lluvias Mil”
3. “Pájaros en Verano”
Corazón is out 9/16 via Smugglers Way. Pre-order it here.
Source: https://uproxx.com/indie/ela-minus-dj-python-pajaros-en-verano-corazon-ep/