Aiala remains outside the law of gravity and continues to wander among the planets of
the solar system, perhaps lost as Major Tom. And it is that her world is infinite although
her reality is very close.
On February 12th "2021: an Earth oddity", is published, the second album by the
Barcelona singer and an explicit tribute to two of her most important creative
references, Stanley Kubrick and David Bowie. And if in her first album each song was a
planet, in this second album we find the astral reference on the cover, with the moon
present in all its phases, the weightless singer floating between them and that explicit
title: 2021: an Earth oddity ...
But as we said, if her world is infinite (that seems to show in her work), her reality is very
close, and if a couple of years ago in her second video clip, that feminine and feminist
“Red temple”, she invited her grandmothers and her friends to accompany her in the red
tent, and in "Time goes fast" from her first album, we listened to the choirs of Adrián, his
godson, in this album we can listen to her dog Holiday (from Billie, of course) and her
goddaughter Aila, less than one year old, making fun of her godmother in the beautiful
“By my side (Baby)”.
And it is that from the ground control that is for the singer La Panchita studio, she has
manufactured a capital, conceptual artifact, from the design (with a new packaging
format devised by Aiala herself) to the songs that compose it, where honesty it is the
clearest reference and the singer undresses herself to present her life project: fight,
learn, love ... Difficult project in this world, by the way, hence it is not surprising to find
her like a ying yang on the CD itself.
Musically the change is important, and the fact is that the album is presented after a very
simple and fast production process but very detailed, with tracks that may seem that
have little or nothing to do with each other but to which the artistic concept of Aiala
unites: black music, in its greatest amplitude, under a very clear influence of pop music, that is, everything (or almost everything) that has accompanied Anglo-Saxon music since
the 60s.
And it is this production, as I said simple but detailed, which has allowed us to find on
this album a song like “Always want more”, a blues without blues structure but with the
soul for voice, where Aiala is accompanied by Stéphane Laidet “Farmo”, a mythical
harmonica from Color Humano and one of the best harmonica players in Spain. Or a song
that mixes neosoul and trap, “White wine (Raro)”, in which the collaboration of the
Catalan MC Spxxn P surprises. Along with two pop pearls as are the choral “Blind world”
or the introspective “Face to face (Silence)”. Or a rocker "Fighting and learning" with the
powerful double bass of Joan Vigo, member of A Contra Blues. (By the way, the album
title and its nod to Kubrick is not the only cinematographic reference of the work, see the
video clip of “Fighting and learning” and draw conclusions). Along with songs of various
electronic styles, either in the form of house, “Honey”, techno house, “Love and power”
(with the select post-production of Willow Vsound), or drum'n'bass, “Give me”, in which
Oldwine's collaboration is striking. There is no lack of the most classic Jamaican
references: “Can you feel that fire”. Nor the artistic vindication of our musical past,
which is also hers, and if in her first album she recorded a cover by La Kinky Beat, this
time she offers us a version of Draps Bruts, “Maldito dinero”, probably the first 100%
female rock group from Barcelona which offered us her musical delicacies on horseback
from the eighties and nineties of the last century.
Two last recommendations, the one that some journalist who was invited to a study
session baptized as the lullaby of the album, "By my side (Baby)", delicious, tender, with
the voice of the singer's goddaughter, and the song that closes the album (although it
also opens it), “Gotta be strong”, very powerful, although short, a reference to primitive
rap, to that one of the neighborhoods of large American cities, the beginning of so many
things.
And so, she, Aiala, the oddity, the black pearl of Barcelona, turns into a shining celestial
body...
The album's production has been carried out by Aiala and Chalart58; the first, in addition
to being the author of all the songs except for “Maldito dinero”, has recorded voices,
quite a few keyboards and some guitar, the second, in addition to the sequences, has
recorded quite a few percussions and also some guitar. And among the various musicians
who have collaborated on the album, we would like to highlight the bassist Emilio Nieto,
the brass section formed by Uri Escolano, trumpet, and Josep Blanes, trombone, and the
participation of the musicians who accompany Aiala live: Celia del Barco, vocals (and live
keyboard), Macià Amorós, drums (and live sequences), and Pol Sistach (guitar).