Juan Wauters - Real Life Situations (Transparent Ruby Vinyl) - VINYL LP

The pleasure of finding something new in what we already know. The strange face of someone close. The outsider we all carry inside. The unex-plored path in our usual location. A secret, a hiding place, a surprise. This is what Juan Pablo brings us. He's the persona that Juan Wauters embodies to tell another side of his story. Not long ago, Wauters released La Onda de Juan Pablo, an album that allowed him to reinvent himself and start writing a separate chapter in his exciting career. Now, as a companion and as a prequel, he releases Introducing Juan Pablo. La Onda de Juan Pablo was a travelogue of sorts, with it's anthropologi-cal efforts, it's parade of Latin American musicians and it's choice to only feature Wauters native tongue. Introducing Juan Pablo, on the other hand, goes back and forth between Spanish and English. It is, in short, more faith-ful to the interculturalism that Wauters experiences daily. InchIn my house, among my family, we speak in Spanish. But outside in the neighborhood, we speak in English with my friends. Several of them speak in Spanish with their parents, but not all. It doesn't cause me any trouble to go from one language to another. I can express myself in the same way everything is music.Inch In a nod to both his home country and his adopted home, he in-cludes an English version of InchEl Hombre de la CalleInch (InchThe Man on the StreetInch) by Jaime Roos, one of the most popular Uruguayan songwriters. The references to the land where he was born are here on the surface. Between the first track (InchSuper TalkingInch) and the last (InchGreetingsInch), songs run in both languages, culminating with InchLoraInch, which opens like a pop ka-leidoscope and ends in a kind of cosmic brotherhood between Eduardo Mateo and Syd Barrett. His immigrant's side. His sense of belonging. His social life and his use of language. His need to work. And th

Over the last few years, Latin American artist Juan Wauters has covered a lot of ground, both artistically and geographically. In 2016, Wauters directed a film in the Southwest of France and, in 2017, he performed for the first time in his birthplace of Uruguay. He's also been traveling Latin America extensively, taking time to pause and rethink his life, his art and his career after releasing two critically acclaimed albums, 2014's N.A.P. North American Poetry and 2015's Who Me?. As both time and place often have a unique influence on music, Wauters planned to record his next album abroad, seeking a break from his life in New York City, the city he has called home since moving from Montevideo in 2002. He settled in Mexico City in 2017 to focus on writing. However, shortly after, he was offered a role in an independent film being shot in Argentina. Never one to turn down a creative opportunity, Wauters packed up his 100 pound mobile recording studio into two suitcases and took off to Buenos Aires. When filming was complete, Wauters wound up writing and recording all over Latin America - from Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, and Chile to Mexico and Puerto Rico - seeking collaboration at every stop with local musicians who embody the traditions and energies specific to each region. Until this point in his career, most of his songs had been sung in English, but revisiting his Latin roots inspired him to record songs in his native tongue. Thus, Wauters gives us the first of multiple albums he will this year the wonderful La Onda de Juan Pablo, the world of Juan Pablo Wauters

There's freedom to be found in consistency. Until recently, Juan Wauters may not have agreed with this statement. As a touring musician and multinational citizen, transience had always come naturally to him. Circumstance, however, recently prompted him to reconsider the benefits of staying in one place. His most introspective work to date, Wauters' sixth solo album Wandering Rebel finds the artist taking stock of how he's changed, how the world sees him, and what he wants out of life.Written mostly during an extended break from touring, the songs on Wandering Rebel are candid reflections on subjects like career (InchWandering RebelInch), romantic commitment (InchAmor AmorInch), mental health (InchNube NegraInch) and the personal toll of touring (InchLet LooseInch). On InchModus Operandi,Inch he voices his frustration with New York's fairweather residents, who fled the city at theonset of the COVID-19 lockdown. Vocal contributions from fellow New Yorker Greta Kline (Frankie Cosmos) add to the chorus of playful disapproval. On the singalong-worthy InchMillionaire,Inch he turns his eye to the west coast InchIt's hard to get around Los Angeles / If you don't have a car / I'm staying in a privileged part of town / It's suspicious for me to be walking.InchThe clarity with which Wauters approaches these subjects lyrically is reflected in the music as well. His trademark eclecticism is still present (fans of Real Life Situations' spirited hip-hop should look to track 6, InchBoleroInch), but it's more refined this time, anchored in his signature Latin-influenced indie folk. Wandering Rebel is peppered with delicate additions that add depth throughout rain sounds and hand drums on InchNube Negra,Inch a strings section on InchModus Operandi,Inch a gentle vibraphone on InchAmor, Amor.Inch Some of these are classic Wauters touches, but others are owed to outside influences, like