SOUNDTRACK: BALÚN-Tiny Desk Concert #927 (December 20, 2019).
When I first listened to this Tiny Desk, I was delighted by the gentle way it started–pretty acoustic melodies on slightly unfamiliar instruments. Although I usually enjoy noise and chaos, I really hoped that this whole set would stay like this. And (for the most part) it did.
The set opens with sampled birdsong as “Vaivén” begins with a beautiful melody from Noraliz Ruiz on the Puerto Rican cuatro. She’s joined by Enrique Bayoán Ríos-Escribano on the charango. It’s a beautiful short piece that segues into “La Nueva Ciudad” and that’s when things changed a bit with the addition of electronics.
Their mix of traditional instruments with electronics creates not just a sonic treat but also a visual feast, as our eyes dart from one instrument to the other, drawn in by a Puerto Rican cuatro and a makeshift drum set.
Indeed
It’s impossible to not be drawn in by the visual specter of Balún. The band has refined their electronic roots with their turn toward self-discovery on beautifully crafted studio albums, and this set behind the Tiny Desk shows how expertly they deliver the same meticulous, artful music live.
“La Nueva Ciudad” opens with electronic-sounding percussion as Ríos-Escribano and drummer Shayna Dunkelman both scratch percussion instruments. Then Ríos-Escribano plays a hand drum and José A. Olivares plays a little synth device as the melody unfolds.
Then we finally hear singer Angélica Negrón (with the purple hair). She has a soft, high voice as gentle as the instruments around it. Her voice is warm and inviting even if you don’t speak Spanish (it might make you want to learn).
For verse two Darian Thomas kicks in the violin with the charango adding its chords. It’s a wonderful song, complex and fun.
Balún is from Puerto Rico and they dedicated the third song “El Espanto” to their island home. Negrón says “El Espanto” is about cleaning up the bad energy and starting from scratch. It opens with a fascinating percussive intro
I didn’t expect to be greeted by a mysterious, eighth member who made an appearance at the start of “El Espanto” in the form of programmed solenoids that struck the bottoms of pots and pans to create a rhythmic intro to one of their brilliantly crafted songs, mixing the folkloric with the modern.
The song starts with a weird synth sound (like an electronic folk instrument) which, along with the violin, pokes out the melody. Electronic percussion fleshes out the staccato notes. Midway through the song it gets huge with guitars, synths, who knows what else. It brings a great alt rock sound and a hugely catchy melody (and Negrón’s voice is perfect for it). Then the cuatro takes over the melody again. The middle of the song has a ripping guitar solo from Raúl Reymund with Darian Thomas playing some wild violin.
I love that everyone sings along gently until the end of the song, when it’s a total freak out with loud electronic drums, noisy guitar, wild violin and all kinds of shaken percussion. It’s the chaos I wanted after all!
Balún is part of a vanguard of bands that is expanding the musical landscape of Puerto Rico and it is a treat to watch them up close as they create an actual bridge between the ancient and the modern, set against a rich tapestry of vocals that extoll the virtues and challenges facing their beloved island these days.
“Punto De Encuentro” ends the set. It’s a new song. Noraliz Ruiz picks up the bass (the first time a bass is used). It opens with all kinds of electronics starting the song which turns onto a quiet, pretty ballad. Thomas plucks the melody on the violin along with the synths. Then the churango comes back with the bowed violin and all the while the complex percussion keeps the song moving along.
I had never heard of this band before this set and they totally won me over. I’m looking forward to checking out their albums.
[READ: March 2, 2020] “Night Swim”
This story is set in Ireland. I only find this surprising because in the story the narrator goes more or less skinny dipping which was something I didn’t think you could do in Ireland (do the lakes ever get warm enough at night?)–at least I’ve never heard of anyone doing that before.
But although that is the title and a crux of the story, it is not the entire story.
The story opens with the narrator, Michelle, driving her son Ben to a friend’s house. Ben doesn’t talk much in general, but he seemed to open up in the car (I found that to be true about my own kids).
Michelle had not been to this friend’s house and was following the GPS map. She was familiar with the area but not the route itself.
While she was driving, Ben began asking her “would you rather” questions: Would you rather drink a cup of lava or be drowned in a lava lake. She doesn’t enjoy the game, but he is quite insistent.
When she answers she would rather neither of those things, he just repeats the question.
When he asks if she would rather drown in a lake or be strangled in the dark, she flashes back to the titular night swim.
A group of them were coming back from the pub, including one of the men she was supposed to have sex with. She pulled her dress over her head and headed into the lake. There were men in the group, too, although none of these men would become the father of Ben. Getting naked in the deserted woodland in the middle of the night was a taunt to all of the men.
She sat on a dock by the lake and took off her bra. One of the boys told her not to, as did one of the girls. But she jumped right in. It was cold and she gasped. She swam in the blackness–she couldn’t tell if her eyes were open. She swam out and back and then went ashore toward “recrimination and cold-skinned sex.”
She would never do that again. And she had to tell Ben he should never do that either. She made him promise he would never do that. But he ignored her and asked more questions.
Would you rather live in a turkey or have a turkey live in you.
As they pulled up to the apartments Ben says that Ava (the girls hes going to see) is not his friend, “She’s just really, really pushy.”
As she looked around she realized that she knew the street. It once housed The Sisters of Clare and St. Agnes Private Nursing Home. “Scraggy Aggy’s” as it was known. She had once spent time there. Although now the facility was torn down and turned into apartments.
I don’t exactly know the significance of Scraggy Aggys and wonder if I was Irish if I would. She went there when shes was in a bad way although I cant quite figure out why (is it an unwed mother thing?). But not knowing that detail doesn’t ruin the story for me.
I especially liked this description of when they get to Ava’s house. Ava was waiting for him, “a little blonde pixie with a sequinned heart on her T-shirt jigging up and down at the sight of him.”
I assume this is an excerpt and I’d be very curious to read more.
For ease of searching, I include: Balun.
I Just Read About That... 
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