Feature: Fakuta – “Armar y Desarmar”
Michita Rex, Chile
Pamela Sepulveda, better known as Fakuta, was first under our radar thanks to people like Javiera Mena, Gepe, Lido Pimienta and Ulises Hadjis who are big fans of her. It only took one spin to notice what the fuss was about; she makes some very exciting music. The Chilean singer also serves as the head of Michita Rex, Chile’s new great label. Fakuta builds pop songs around steam, on a mystical traverse where music and physics serve each other.
“Armar y Desarmar” released on our Fonogramaticos Vol.7 is an essential song to understand Chile’s current pop-mathematical wave, you know, the one well-measured sound involving numbers, distances and form. The song is brilliantly nuanced from beginning to end, “los detalles en detalles las acciones por detras… tan lejos y llegamos hasta el mismo lugar… sera que tengo miedo de quedarme atras, de no alcanzarte nunca y nunca encontrar-nos.” I can’t put into words how much I care about the song’s structure, it’s one of those delicious pieces that celebrates artistic uncontinuity, meaning the song is literally armed and disarmed at the moment.
Fakuta, like many of her Chilean peers are putting an edge on invisible form by observing music form and singing about it. It almost equates to the practice of college dropouts studying music and escaping from the form. “Amar y Desarmar” shows stylistic progression through uncompromised, generous sonic bravura. “Y si no existe que mas da, me rindo a la suavidad de este ejercicio indecente de armar y desarmar.”