Esperanza

Spanish guitar has long been a favored seasoning in dance music, both because of its haunting ambience and because it complements a Latin rhythm like no other instrument. This acoustic/electronic contrast works well -- keyboard washes and hip-hop beats enhance the poignancy of flesh-thumbed nylon strings.

But guitarist/songwriter/producer Carlos Villalobos doesn't just add Spanish guitar to dance music; he fashions dance music around the instrument's aesthetics. The opening movement "La Sombra/Mi Tierra" begins with a series of percussive patterns: the scratching of fingernails against strings, interlocking castanets rattle, clapping hands and slaps on wood. In the midst of this richly layered rhythm, the guitar seeks its melody and bounces ideas off the fluid architecture of the sound. Midway through the album, the rhythms grow faster and harder and the textures (more techno here, more industrial there) thicken. In the end, "Goodnight" serves as a peaceful coda to a dark journey that's as extraordinarily subtle and human as the instrument at its heart.