Mabe Fratti releases ‘Enfrente‘, her latest single previewing her highly anticipated new album Sentir Que No Sabes due out on June 28th via Unheard Of Hope. ‘Enfrente’ arrives alongside a dreamy video directed by José Ostos & Ana Drucker and featuring Fratti, Edwin Mensah, and Timi Adisa. The Guatamala-native, Mexico City-based artist will celebrate the release with her first headlining US tour, which includes shows at Brooklyn’s Public Records and LA’s Zebulon and ends with a festival performance at Viva! Pomona. She is also confirmed to perform at a number of UK and European festivals this year, including at Primavera Sound, Pitchfork Paris and London, curating at this year’s Le Guess Who, and more; a current itinerary is further below and tickets are on-sale now.
Mesmerising and dynamic, ‘Enfrente’ (‘In front’) builds over marching live drums and Fratti’s evocative voice as a plucked cello, swooning strings, and brittle synth parts ascend to a vibrant conclusion. Fratti explains: “We would say that ‘Enfrente’ is kind of like the ‘spoiled’ kid of the record: it started in a different context, it was going in a different direction: I rarely start a song playing the piano (to then play at the cello) and with this one I had the chords and an idea of the melody, while Héctor came with the idea of making a kind of trip hop beat for it and adding some extended technique with the guitar adding some t-rap under the strings of the guitar. As we were recording the beat with Gibrán Andrade at the studio, Héctor suggested adding some drum and bass at the ending that also became instantly iconic. There’s a sensation of fear of being heard in the intention of the song, and being one step behind everything that’s going on, and feeling overwhelmed by the pressure to follow up.”
Ostos & Drucker explain the ‘Enfrente’ video: “The starting point was water, we were interested in its movement and plasticity. We also wanted the images to work as a rhythmic accompaniment to the song’s groove. After some testing, we established a system that enabled us to film diverse subjects through distortions and reflections created by the dynamic interaction of light and water. We focused on this technique to create a series of scenes and images with an internal rhythm and a chromatic palette that blended with the textures and colors of Mabe’s song.”
1. Kravitz
2. Pantalla azul
3. Elastica II
4. Oídos
5. Quieras o no
6. Enfrente
7. Elastica I
8. Márgen del índice
9. Alarmas olvidadas
10. Descubrimos un suspiro
11. Intento fallido
12. Kitana
13. Angel nuevo
Sentir Que No Sabes is available for pre-order here.
Photo credit – Melissa Lunar