In Spanish, ‘aquella’ means something that is distant or far away from you, and ‘persona’ simply means person. This instrumental track opens as if it is shyly emerging from behind the incarnated silence in a room. But it does not stay shy for long. Though timid at first, the guitar then brims with shrill inquiry rising with a paradoxically steady poise. Tremulous, but unwavering. Getting further and further away.
The back and forth with the rhythm guitar leads you think that this could be an account of a tumultuous conversation or the musical embodiment of indecision since there is disquiet and restlessness in the chord progressions that start out more sure, more steadfast and gradually get more high-pitched and plangent, almost unsettled. The same chords in different keys sometimes which points to doubt or second thoughts daubing a former belief or faith. Like doubting the veracity of something you are remembering from a long time ago.
The song introduces all of this complexity slowly and thoughtfully and ever so gently so as not to overwhelm or crowd you with emotions. This consideration makes you feel these things as if you are recalling them as memories, dredging them up from the pits of your remembrance which extricates you from this moment of dismay you are having. This song manages to disentangle you from your wallowing because it is inundated with dampened longing for something inexplicable, something unrecognizable, something undeniable. And joining the song in its longing helps you transcend what saddens or serrates you. And since the song slowly descends into uncertainty and disconnect, it offers clarity. It sobers you into a decision. It snaps you out of panic. The initial calmness of the song does its trick; the ensuing back and forth can only be illuminating.
This is a song to put on repeat when you are lying in bed on a hopeless night, staring at the ceiling. And you could swear the crack at the corner of the wall just moved, but you cannot prove it.
Maybe with this song as company, the quiet will start to feel like a memory you cannot recall. Take a listen to “Aquella Persona” below.
Written by Leo August
