Remedios Varo was a surrealist painter born in 1908 in Spain, who later in life lived in Mexico after fleeing from war in Spain and latterly France. She is best known for her mysterious and enigmatic paintings portraying androgynous beings engaged in the magic arts, the supernatural and occult. This enigmatic artist (and different stages of her life) is the subject of this ethereal, at times eerie, yet intriguing collaboration by Madrid-born now Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter Maud the Moth (Amaya López-Carromero) and Spanish dark ambient duo trajedesaliva (Mon Ninguén (synths, music) and unavena (voice, lyrics)).
Musically, the album covers a wide range of genres (ambient, folk, avant-garde, drone) but demands the listeners attention with the pictures it paints, mirroring the surrealist nature of its subject. Split into three distinct sections, Bordando el Manto Terrestre (named after one of her works produced in 1961) at times, floats like a diaphanous, delicate breeze but at others casts a dark and shadowy hypnotic state over the listener.
Comprising the first three tracks, opening section Trasmundo (Underworld), aims to embody Varo’s exile experiences and the rebuilding of her life as a political refugee in Mexico. Opener, Perdí Pie begins as a cryptic, ambient drone piece simultaneously fantastic and inexplicable. Divine vocalisations like a susurrus from the heavens soar high above the oscillating accompaniment. Heart-rending and poignant, Perdí Pie also contains the first of several spoken word poems (by unavena of trajedesaliva) that are scattered across the album.
Maud the Moth and trajedesaliva exhibit a convincing and bewitching amalgamation of effortlessly intertwining styles. The collaboration is perforated with references to the pictorial work of Remedios Vara through musical imagery and allusion. Varo had a difficult life, struggling against poverty until she escaped from the rise of fascism in Europe in 1941. The mental trauma left by this time in her life would remain with Varo until her sudden death from a heart attack in 1963.
This trauma is particularly evident through an unmistakable agony across the opening trilogy of songs but (musically, at least) brief moments of hope glitter within the darkness. Jardincito de rosa y tierra (Little Garden of Rose and Earth), the second track on the album, sees a slightly more vivid use of Mon Ninguén’s analogue synths; however, the feeling of uneasiness remains and we follow Varo on the journey which would ultimately save her. The concluding part of Transmundo, Habitantes del desgarro (Inhabitants of the Tear) returns to a more drone-like style with stark yet beautiful vocals.
unavena's poems verbally chronicle the journey of Bordando el Manto Terrestre sonically told through the use of analogue synthesisers, a vast array of acoustic instruments and the exquisite, stunning range of Maud the Moth’s voice.
Within its first moments, Naturaleza Muerta Resucitando (Still Life Resurrecting), the second part of the piece (comprised of Cuerpo de gato (Cat’s Body) and Fruta alrededor de una vela (Fruit Around a Candle) breathes far more positive emotions into the album as the trio of musicians depict the central ideas, themes and motifs of Remedios Varo’s work. The artist’s deep love of cats and her use of humans represented through the forms of animals, plants, insects, or even domestic objects is also represented here. Inanimate objects coming to life was another aspect central to the work of Varo and here those objects sway and dance smoothly and gracefully, illuminated through the compelling interweaving of voice and instruments.
Remedios Varo was not a well-known artist during her lifetime and remains relatively unknown beyond Mexico. Following her death, the art critics of Novedades called her "one of the most individual and extraordinary painters of Mexican art." Solo retrospectives of her work opened in 1964, 1971, and 1983 in Mexico. Being unfamiliar with her work should not serve to distract anyone from listening to this album and could be seen as the perfect gateway to becoming more familiar with her undoubted talent. Surreal and occasionally perplexing, Varo’s paintings are nonetheless enthralling.
Rompiendo el círculo vicioso (Breaking the Vicious Circle), the concluding part of the album (encompassing the final three tracks), portrays the power and freedom brought by finding one’s creative force. Illustrating the final journey from the terror and trepidation of exile to the salvation of innovation, imagination and creativity, the final trilogy of songs (Perla, Círculo roto and Hilos de fantasia) bring the story to a close, awash with marvellous patterns of synths decorated with the colour and vivacity of unavena’s words.
Mixed by Scottish producer Scott McLean (healthyliving, Falloch, Ashenspire), Bordando el Manto Terrestre is not an album with bells and whistles – it does not need to be. As an album which creates mood and elicits emotion however, it will certainly appeal to those who are prepared to give it time and indulge in contemplative reflection. Before listening to this album, I was unaware of the work and life of Remedios Varo. If Maud the Moth and trajedesaliva set out to bring her work and an understanding of her life to a wider audience, then this album should be seen as an unqualified success. Be prepared to dive into the rabbit hole….
Bordando el Manto Terrestre is released on Friday 26th May and is available at https://bordandoelmantoterrestre.bandcamp.com/album/bordando-el-manto-terrestre
Watch the video for Perdí Pie below.
Written: May 2023
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