Mas Aya’s (Brandon Valdivia) bewitching Máscaras is a melding of disparate elements that add up to more than the sum of their parts. It’s the latest recording from this Nicaraguan-Canadian multi-instrumentalist who has produced or performed with Sandro Perri, U.S. Girls, Picastro, John Oswald, and many others. Valdivia’s soloist pseudonym Mas Aya derives from the name of his grandmother’s Nicaraguan town and echoes a Spanish phrase meaning “the great beyond.” He employs traditional Nicaraguan instruments like the quena flute and the llamador drum alongside synths and drum loops to create a delicate balance between modern ambient and Latin American folk music, underscored by a gentle call for resistance and political action. The tracks alternate between frenetic rhythms and dreamy floating soundscapes as Valdivia shifts tempos and moods. He pointedly adds a sample of a ’70s Nicaraguan guerrilla’s voice to the uptempo opener “Momento Presente,” the anguished yell of a Nicaraguan protester to the hypnotic flutes and drums on “18 de Abril,” and Lido Pimienta’s soft vocals to the deep and dark ambience of “Tiempo Ahora.” It’s those combinations of organic and electronic, ancient and modern, gentle and urgent that make Máscaras so immersive and compelling.
Mary Dickie is a Toronto music and arts journalist whose work has been published in a variety of different publications over the past couple of decades, including Impact, Eye Weekly, Maclean’s, ELLE Canada, The Toronto Sun, FASHION magazine and IN Toronto. She is also a member of the Polaris Music Prize jury.