"Before the cuatro venezolano comes in, "Dime" begins with plaintive clarinets and horns, and then Estrada's own plea, begging certainty of a lover who might stay or go. A dynamic string arrangement from Owen Pallett expands the first riff into a backdrop against which words are only incidental. Motion is the only constant; within it, a new movement begins in the music, and Estrada finds action:"
"The sadness shifts into a slow-burning anger on "Good Luck, Good Night," a simmering bolero that luxuriates in the cabaret drama of the moment you decide you also get to be mad. "Pensé que tu cantar/Era tormenta/Era flores/Era fiesta/Melodías de una orquesta.../Que hace llorar," she sings of a fickle partner ("I thought your song/Was a storm/Was flowers/Was celebration/The melodies of an orchestra.../That draws tears")."
Wordless moments approach the sublime, culminating in a hummed melody in the final minute of the closing "El Alma Mía." "Dime" opens with plaintive clarinets and horns before a cuatro venezolano arrives, and Estrada delivers a pleading vocal asking a lover for certainty. Owen Pallett's dynamic string arrangement expands the initial riff into a backdrop that makes words feel incidental. Motion acts as a constant that initiates new musical movement and prompts Estrada into action. The record shifts sorrow into slow-burning bolero anger on "Good Luck, Good Night," where Spanish lyrics and translations convey longing, hurt and communal catharsis. Sparse motifs in "Un Rayo de Luz" evoke Hopper-like empty-room imagery and a concluding sense of departure.
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