Aysenlur are a band from the Iquique-region in the far North of Chile, close to the border with Bolivia and Peru. They actually started during the second half of the Nineties, and soon they gained a huge fan-base in their home country and neighbour countries; especially live they were well visited. It took, however, until 2006 before Aysenlur self-released their official studio-recorded full length, Call To Arms. I have no idea what happened in mean time, but since then all seemed to fade in silence?...
Anyway, Sergio Ostria P. recently recruited some musicians in order to record the new opus, and the Aysenlur-project got signed by Chilean Blackflag Records (headquarters in this project’s home city). It was recorded, mixed and mastered during summer / autumn 2013 at Blackflag Studio with Hugo ‘Tenebras’ Maripillán, and the nine tracks last for thirty two minutes. And besides the ‘usual’ instruments (drums, acoustic and electric guitars, bass and keyboards, along with vocals of course), this album includes traditional instruments too, such as Pifilca (a kind of Patagonian flute), Duduk (some kind of flute from Armenia), Didgeridoo (you know, I guess…),Trutruca (some kind of horn or trumpet played by Araucanian Indian tribes from Chile and Argentina), or Hang (a recently-developed variation on steel drums to be played with bare hands).
This album differs from the former work of Aysenlur. Gone is the Black-oriented Epic from the early years, while this project is now introducing mainly instrumental (three compositions only come with voices), acoustic Folk-injected melancholy.
Equilibrium - The Art Of Existence opens with Evolución Existencial, which starts with tribal percussion, mouth harp and that higher mentioned Trutruca, soon joined by acoustic guitars. These have an occidental melodic catchiness, which is rather surprising. These melodies interchange with somewhat folkish passages, including clean, harmonious chants (and once a sudden scream…). A strange opener it is, this song, but is does refresh. Vital Connection is an acoustic piece with a melancholic melody. Disharmoning too is instrumental and acoustic, yet of a happier kind than its predecessor Vital Connection. Life Experience is a neo-classical song with vocals by Camila Arancibia, and with a melodious structure based on piano and violin. Atavistic Defiance once again is an instrumental acoustic track, yet with a pronounced Folk attitude, up-tempo and energetic. Perceptions is more melancholic once again, with acoustic guitars and piano, and a piano also leads the song Reflection, along with acoustic guitars, of course. Introspective is a short interlude with Trutruca and mouth harp, and final song Non-Existence includes cello and harmonium, I think, and vocals (clean male voices by Sergio and Michael Ávalos, and a couple of screams). This melancholic Neo-Folk piece might be the most impressive one on this album.
Actually the album ends with a so-called ‘hidden track’, which is a strangely reversed version of Evolución Existencial. It makes Equilibrium - The Art Of Existence ending as unusual and apart like it started (cf. the former paragraph).
I am afraid to add this. Since most pieces are instrumental and based on acoustic riffs especially, and since it often sounds too goody-goody, not the whole album can interest me. A couple of those instrumental pieces can’t inspire me totally. At the other hand, there are a couple of nice tracks too, and one cannot but praise the self-created ideas and intentions that are enormously distinctive from the grey masses.