Rodrigo y Gabriela and C.U.B.A // Area 52

Area 52 is a journey into the unknown, a tentative step further than the mysterious wilds of Area 51, for the Mexican acoustic aficionados, Rodrigo y Gabriela. For anyone who has heard the twosome wield their instruments in perfect harmony with one another, their sounds so intrinsically interwoven, you’ll know that the whole ‘musical duo’ thing, they’ve got down. Time and their own ambition calls for a new challenge, and it comes in the way of working with a team of Cuban musicians, C.U.B.A. Every twang and utterance of El Rodri and La Gabi’s guitars exist with such symbiosis, entirely fulfilling the rich sound we’re used to hearing from them, that it’s hard to imagine the expansion a full orchestra could give them. What ‘Area 52’, and the collaboration gives us is every flavour of Latin America, with room to explore a multitude of genres along the way. This is not original material here, but nine of their tracks re-imagined, offered out to other musicians to soak in their tones and be given back. The 13-piece C.U.B.A orchestra adds Latin heat to the album, with guest appearances from Anoushka Shankar on sitar, a Palestinian Trio, rock drummer and jazz bass player giving a multi-continental direction to the tracks we’ve already come to love. It’s ‘Ixtapa’, ’11:11’, ‘Orion’, left to simmer in a worldy psychedelic broth. 

7/10 Emma Garwood