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Savath & Savalas is just one man, and he may be the States' best answer to Argentina's
Juana Molina. Known as
Prefuse 73 in his more electronic pursuits, Scott Herren writes, performs, and produces Savath & Savalas, and though the resulting Spanish-language somnambulism owes everything to the strain of South American fringe-folk gaining popularity in the U.S., the dedicated subtlety fueling this music is all his own. Songs cascade along in loping forward motion, as prone to lushly orchestrated decomposition ("Apnea Obstructiva," "Te Amo...Por Que Me Odias") and succulent adagio ("Faltamos Palabras," "Olhas") as they are to the simple, charismatic sense of melody that propelled S&S on 2000's
Folk Songs for Trains, Trees and Honey. As usual, Herren invites a few guests who make immediate sense in context. The most immediately successful of
Golden Pollen's collaborators is the Swedish
José González, whose vocal touches on "Estrella de Dos Caras" ("Star of Two Faces") lends the track the added sonic bloom that raises the best Savath & Savalas songs from mere Latin lullaby to transcendent, cross-cultural devotion. --
Jason Kirk