It’s not clear exactly what happened to Federico Aubele on his relocation to Berlin, but whatever it was it was dark and has had a profound but ultimately beneficial effect on his music. Aubele has come over all dubby and electronic for ‘Berlin 13′, the ’13’ referring to the tarot card that references death. Gone are the sunshine acoustic textures of previous work – or at least if they are still there they are relegated to the background. In their place is a moody dub approach, backing songs that move between languages. Darker the music may be, but there is still an impressive inner resolve, and moments of beauty such as the duet ‘Bohemian Rhapsody In Blue, sprinkled as it is with Argentinean guitar. Argentina may have crashed out to Germany in last year’s world cup, but this is much closer to a scoring draw, an intriguing mix of dark passion and vulnerability.
4 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Ben Hogwood
