Gustavo Cerati: Fuerza Natural
A couple of months ago in this space, I reviewed Gustavo Cerati’s “Deja Vu” as a teaser of sorts to his new album, Fuerza Natural. At the time, I included the disclaimer that it’s pretty difficult to extrapolate the sound of an entire album on the basis of one track, and speculated that this album, like its predecessor Ahi Vamos, was likely to be a more straightforward rock effort. I turned out to be more right on the first point than the second since, as so often happens with Cerati, this disc is anything but straightforward.
A lot of the usual influences are here, including Charly Garcia, Luis Alberto Spinetta, and the ever-present shade of Cerati’s former band, Soda Stereo. There are also surprises here in the echoes of George Harrison and Todd Rundgren. There’s a stopover (”Magia”) in the same ZIP code previously occupied by ELO, and a riff on “Amor Sin Rodeos” that would do a certain Mr. Petty* proud.
But perhaps the biggest surprise about Fuerza Natural is the country influence that pervades the album. It isn’t exactly Hank Williams (I, II, or III) territory. It’s a kissing cousin to country, with bits of the Byrds woven among a few stray Wilburys, a bit of “Here He Comes” or “Lay My Love” by Brian Eno, or the same left-field sonics that cropped up on Dressed Up Like Nebraska, Josh Rouse’s Thom Yorke-does-Nashville debut outing.
One reason among many that the disc works as a whole is that Cerati keeps one foot in the familiar while the other steps into new territory. What that means here is plenty of rock to balance the experimentation. There’s the previously considered “Deja Vu,” or the three minutes worth of punchiness that is “Desastre,” that wouldn’t have been out of place on Cerati’s last outing. ”Dominó” could be mistaken for an outtake from Franz Ferdinand or the Killers, at least ’til you remember that Cerati was doing his thing when the New New Wave was in diapers. There’s plenty here to keep fans both old and new (that is to say, Soda Stereo fans and those who came to the party later) perfectly happy.
*that would be Tom Petty, not Mr. Petty my high school biology teacher, though I’m sure he would’ve dug it, too
Cerati’s website
A short documentary (in Spanish) about the making of the disc
Tags: Fuerza Natural, Gustavo Cerati, Soda Stereo