26 Aug 2020

Beats Per Minute reviews J. Zunz Hibiscus


They say:

Perhaps better known as one half of brilliant Mexican dreampop and psych-experimentalists Lorelle Meets the Obsolete, Lorena Quintanilla’s solo work as J. Zunz focuses more on minimalist, brooding and menacing synth sounds rather than the waves of ethereal guitar fuzz that are the signature sound of her band. Hibiscus, the second album from Quintanilla’s solo project, is a master class in reserve, restraint and how to create a sustained claustrophobic atmosphere. 


Album opener “Y” is a tale of patriarchal obstinacy and the restriction of space afforded to women. It spirals in on itself, enveloping the listener with its hypnotic wooziness, descending keyboard line and introspective metronomic beat that pulses like an affronted heart. Hibuscus is a very visual album, the textured layers of sound imploring a mental image for your mind. “Y” conjures up ideas of wet streets, deserted and gloomy subways, and the orange glow from car lights in the crepuscularity of a steadily decaying environment. It’s the aural equivalent of a dark alley near the glittering lights of a pulsating city; it’s the wrong turn in a place of entirely constructed wrong turns. It’s pensive, exquisitely tense and immutably resilient...    

Read the rest here: BPM

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