On their new EP titled “O” we experience the evolution of the multifarious musical journey of drummer/composer Frank Rosaly and multi-instrumentalist Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti. O finds center in loose polyrhythm, pulse, trance, and longevity, interweaving contemplation of their Latinx backgrounds and vast sonic textures with deft craftsmanship. Fascinated by prodigious sonic spaces that unfold over time, Ferragutti and Rosaly make way for storytelling and rumination. Both authors are adept in constructing music that feels like a pilgrimage, illuminating the elusive into something tangible, while reserving space for the listener to be immersed in micro-sonic detail. 

On O, Ferragutti and Rosaly create vast and dark landscapes that elicit sounds without origin, layers of field recordings and processed noise in matrices of embedded rhythms, and, of course, drumming. Improvisation and experimentation is key to the material’s development, where the two artists’ shared vision and careful sonic guardianship coalesces.

The music is inspired in part by landforms and flora that provided life for Ferragutti and Rosaly’s ancestors. O (Taíno, meaning “mountain”) takes a focused journey into Puerto Rican and Caribbean cultural practices. Forms like Bomba, Plena, Rumba, Batá, Vodou, Cumbia and Dub blend into new, imagined worlds, recontextualizing traditional elements with drums and synthesizers, marrying these practices into experimentation, speculation and worlding. O’s musical meditations constitute a form of protest against hegemonic ascendancy. As a response, O’s spirit seeks to foreground what matters most: its people and their cultural heritage.