Combo Chimbita – IRE – album review

New York-based Latinx quartet Combo Chimbita just released their latest album IRE, they said that it’s ‘a testament to the ever expanding scope of Combo Chimbita’s sonic palette and their modes of resistance in realms both spiritual and terrestrial.’ Fighting Boredom have been listening, read what we thought below.

This is an album made from the isolation, sadness and bewilderment of a world in the grip of a pandemic. Tempered by the protests for Black Lives Matter flowing across the world and honed together fully with their being in Columbia as the uprising happened. It’s a truly worldwide sound and as it isn’t sung in English it remains an enigma to me, more an expression of emotion and feelings rather than a story told. It’s the product of people that know instinctively where to take their music, where to go to hit you with the most force and how the globe shrinks in the face of conflict. pain and ultimately love.

The music made by these four is enlightening and pure, look at the jazzy drums brushed to start the record off and where they lead, seductive and pulling you into its embrace and by the time you are running with the crowd throwing bottles and dodging bullets its all too late to stop because this music takes you into what you can be.

It’s got the attitude of the hardcore kids and the intent of the political rappers, it’s got the emotion of the most heart melting torch singers and the anger of anyone who has been reading the news and is trapped in a corrupt broken country. It’s also got the hip swiveling, shoulder shrugging rhythms  of the funkiest of soul and the warmest of salsa. It sounds like a summers day, hot, dusty and loud. The threat of thunder and the sweet smell of flowers. It’s a trip. 

In places it feels ancient and then switches to brand new feelings. The vocal switches from emotion without any seeming effort at all but when it seeps down into sadness you can feel the tears coming.

Just trust me on this one, listen to the record, watch the video and feel yourself being dragged willingly into the dance and the rollercoaster of emotion. 

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Combo Chimbita’s website is combochimbita.com, they have a bandcamp page and are on Facebook.

All words by Adrian Bloxham.