CD: Rodrigo y Gabriela - Mettavolution

There aren’t many musicians to catch the ear of a substantial community of music lovers that includes both metalheads and world music fans, as well as having been invited to play the White House – especially when playing only instrumental tunes on acoustic guitars.

Given that Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero hail from Mexico, however, it’s no surprise that their appearance in Washington DC was at the invitation of Barack Obama and not President Tiny Hands.

Mettavolution is be Rodrigo y Gabriela’s sixth studio album and their first since 2014’s 9 Dead Alive, but it certainly doesn’t betray any sense of waning inspiration. Divided into two halves, the first containing six of their own compositions and the second a 19-minute cover of Pink Floyd’s “Echoes”, it is a fine album that takes in fiery flamenco nuevo sounds, hypnotic grooves and laidback, cinematic textures. Rodrigo y Gabriela’s original tunes are in the main, lively, toe-tapping stuff for swinging hips and warm summer evenings. “Terracentric” even manages to be both quite mellow and danceable at the same time, while “Cumbé”, with its more explicitly Latin sound, could almost be the something that Company Segundo might have been singing over during his time with the Afro-Cuban Allstars in the early 2000s.

Even though it’s a cover version, Rodrigo y Gabriela’s take on “Echoes” is nevertheless the undoubted highlight of Mettavolution. While weaving their own magic in and among Dave Gilmour’s legendary guitar lines, the Mexican duo not only manage to extract the song’s prog rock excesses but succeed in preserving its original spirit while giving the tune a totally contemporary feel. It truly is a masterclass in covering other people’s material and is more than enough to put the ever-growing army of Pink Floyd tribute bands firmly in their place.

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