Spectreview: Guayaba – Fantasmagoria

-LIGHT GREEN-

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“I’m that buck nasty bruja wit da piercings and da tattoos
And I refuse to settle for anything less than what I know I’m due
Get those wallets out and pay baby,
Fuck you”

Even though we’re now in the middle of November, there’s still been very little released this year that sounds quite like Fantasmagoria. Olivia Hatfield’s third release under Guayaba is essentially hip-hop crossed with bossa nova, with lush orchestral samples and dread-filled cello finding a home among traditional trap triplets and sub-floor waves. It’s a kitchen-sink tactic, and the effect can occasionally overwhelm the senses, but overwhelming is part of the strategy here. The album’s constructed like a hearty soup, with disparate yet carefully chosen ingredients thrown wholesale into the pot. Not the least of these components is Hatfield’s tripolar voice, which alternates between operatic grandeur (on conceptual thumbtack “The Cuban Worm Lizard, Amphisbaena” and the dramatic “Sanguijuela”); sultry R&B hooks (on the birds’ nest of paradise “Killing Jar”) and (most compellingly) husky, fleet-footed rap verses. Doubling up the vocal recordings further emphasizes Hatfield’s otherworldly presence on the record, and when these vocal styles sync up perfectly with that multi-faceted production, as they do on “Orfeu Negro” the result is simply astounding. Guayaba never strays too far from that high though: from “Mariposa Mala’s” badass, comet-striking posturing to her closing interpretation of Billie Holiday’s “Sunday Gloom,” she (and co-producer Eric Padget) keeps the record thematically and aesthetically uniform without much in the way of lulls. Wondrously heady and disorienting in a refreshing way, Fantasmagoria feels as literally organic as music can feel: planted in fertile peat and pulled fresh from the earth, soil and roots part of the package.

Recommended for aqua fresca on a hot day.