Rio En Medio - The Bride of Dynamite

A rare breed

Album Review by Garry Thomson | 11 Apr 2007
Album title: The Bride of Dynamite
Artist: Rio En Medio
Label: Gnomonsong Records
Great music can be many things. It can be cathartic in times of anguish, or sufficiently uplifting to remind you that you are, in fact, alive. Then again, a lot of the time it's simply there to facilitate a bit of dancing or singing. Put simply, the relationship between the sound somebody can produce and how your ear interprets that can be a wondrous thing and hopefully the reason you're bothering to read this in the first place.

Consisting of brushed folk rhythms and humanised electronic beats that seem to lilt in the air, The Bride of Dynamite is a rare breed. These sounds are coupled with barely-there vocals that - though you sometimes might need to strain in order to hear it - appear as though they are drifting in from the other side of an open door. This can have an unsettling and ominous tone but ultimately leads us to another world - one which is inhabited by this hushed music alone. This isn't the sort of record to sing along to, shouting from the rooftops, but neither is it simply to be listened to in a darkened room whilst hiding under the covers.

It comes as no surprise to learn that some of these recordings were made with absolutely no intention of the outside world ever hearing them. Thankfully for us, they were stumbled upon and coaxed into being released and, as anybody who listens might well testify, this is fine folk music that deserved to find a way out. [Garry Thomson]


Release date: 26 March. http://www.gnomonsong.com/rioenmedio/