Mabe Fratti – Sentir que no sabes

Mabe Fratti’s cello underpins her music, a fifth limb holding the weight of these shape-shifting compositions. But she’s long since left behind the idea she’s tied to, or defined by, it. A virtuoso player, whose blossoming musicianship is reflected by a growing confidence in her voice and an experimental production (which she delivers in collaboration with Héctor Tosta – together they released the beguiling Vidrio, under the name Titanic, last year), the Guatemala-born, Mexico City-based songwriter’s Sentir que no sabes (Feel like you don't know) is the dizzying high point of her career so far.

On Sentir que no sabes, Fratti’s songs are fluid, slippery objects. They take genre – dream pop, jazz, contemporary classical – and turn it inside out, delivering familiar thrills in unrecognisable guises. Take the deep noted plucks and monolithic drums of Kravitz which, at its climax, are joined by overlapping stabs of brass and keys as Fratti’s vocals ascend – this is a doom metal song channeled via a jazz ensemble, slow and monolithic. The album immediately morphs into something else entirely on the following track, Patalla azul (Blue screen error), its repeating melodic riff the offcut of a pop chart hit stripped for parts.

Fratti has described the record as groovy, and it’s true all these tracks have a confident sense of rhythm. However, you can’t help but feel she’s pulling your leg somewhat – she’s dancing to a groove all her own. A known joker, Fratti’s humour doesn’t quite show on music made with such precision – although comparing a fractured relationship to data corruption on a dream pop song called Blue screen error is pretty funny. Sentir que no sabes is endlessly playful, Fratti using either her cello, or some out-of-nowhere sonic texture, to constantly colour outside the lines, conjure dramatic tension, and create real emotional resonance – as on Quieras-o-no (Whether you want it or not), a pained vocoder calling back and forth as Fratti cries with resignation: 'Whether you want it or not, it's a disaster'.

The gorgeous centrepiece Enfrente (In front) is built on what sounds like a dangling bucket being gently blown against a fence, and is peppered with sparkling 80s synths. Fratti sings in Spanish, 'You want to immerse yourself. Soak. Begin' – it’s the feeling of living in this record. Enfrente sums up Fratti’s achievement: a surprising and accessible entry point to her fast growing catalogue which doesn’t abandon her avant-garde tendencies.

Listen to: Oídos (Ears), Enfrente (In front), Angel nuevo