Búho Ermitaño: Implosiones

For a long time Buh Records have been one of the few esoteric labels who have had treasure buried all across the DIY landscape. Last month they arguably unearthed their most valuable jewel yet.

Formed in 2008 in their hometown of Lima, Peruvian collective, Búho Ermitaño, originated fundamentally as a jam band. After six years and multiple line-up changes, it eventually led to the band’s wonderful 2014 debut release, Horizonte.

An album filled with heavy grooves and fizzy slabs of kraut rock-infused psychedelia, with a settled line-up consisting of co-founders Franz Núñez and Diego Pando, they were joined by fellow guitarists Irving Fuentes and Leonardo Pando (who also plays bass and synthesizes), drummer Juan Camba, and djembe/bongos/güiro player Ale Borea.

Divide and Dissolve: Systemic

Nine years on, and while some may have thought the band faded into obscurity on the back of Horizonte, the members Búho Ermitaño had spent the proceeding nine years tinkering and plotting ways to move the project forward. The result? Implosiones: an album widely removed from its predecessor in what is an organic series of out-there sonics inspired by marginal sound worlds and carefree surroundings.

The virtuosity on offer during Implosiones is some of the best you’re likely to hear all year. There’s nothing showy about Búho Ermitaño. Not concerned for image culture and the pretentiousness it often brings, Búho Ermitaño are all about the sonics and how they can transport their listeners to new orbits.

And it starts with Herbie. A lithe, psychedelic crusade full of locality, wah-wah pedal frenzies and chemically enhanced percussive swing. Each guitarist, locked-in as the riffs keep churning in search of that perfect moment akin to the bridge that leads to a new world. And eventually Búho Ermitaño find it.

On Explosiones and later during Entre los cerros, Búho Ermitaño send us into a tailspin with flickering moments of celestial space rock. Rolling washes of sound that pull you out of a drug-inspired black hole, and in these moments, you realise that those who claim to see colours through the fog of sound aren’t talking absolute nonsense.

The moment feeds into Preludio. A fantastical lullaby inspired by the environment, as indistinct bird calls bubble underneath the mix. Here Búho Ermitaño play world builders without really knowing it, evoking all kind of calming images. Essentially, it’s the place where sound and image intersects.

Charbel Haber & Fadi Tabbal: Enfin la nuit

Pulsating and building with wonderful crescendos, Burabino is underpinned by booming percussion, only to drop the gears into something completely hypnotic. It’s a dynamism born simply out of a telepathy between each band member. An unspoken sense that forms the band’s DNA.

On closing track Renacer, Búho Ermitaño frame the moments of Faust loitering around rural Germany in a bid to avoid all responsibilities (largely Virgin Records’ demand to fulfil their contractual obligations), in favour of smoking cigarettes and drinking beer with farmers. While Búho Ermitaño are a world away, these are the kind of moments through the history of kraut-rock that inspire them to make the music they do. A sense of freedom and no rules.

Implosiones is just that. A blistering concoction of musicianship and borderless terrains, it’s essentially the blueprint of psychedelia. And through local influences that dwarfs the standard tropes associated in the world of psych, Búho Ermitaño add their own flavour. They open the door and welcome us into their own reality. And the results are beautiful.

Implosiones is out now via Buh Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.