Jose Luis Fernandez Ledesma & Margarita Botello - Ao Filo

This album and "Sol Central" are, in my opinion, the two pillars of JLFL's discography: almost any other recording by him should be evaluated and reviewed regarding its proximity to one of the two aforesaid albums. "Al Filo" has to be his most disturbing album ever, really scary, yet,
in a strange way, it is not oppressive or overwhelming. There is a certain dreamy aura to the instrumental deliveries comprised in this album that makes it sound magical in a recurrent fashion. But as I said before, this is not the magic of a Disney animated movie soundtrack: this is a very gloomy album, at times sinister. The terrifying beauty of the album cover - a round dance of female infant ghosts in the mist of the night - is an extension of the most disturbing sonorities that the listener will find here. In fact, the 10 minute opener 'Las Siete Columnas' is a well accomplished exercise on enchanting minimalism built with mysterious keyboard-based soundscapes upon which percussive ornaments and choral washes go drifting by. This soft grayness bears a very appealing feel, indeed. Things turn into a more serene realm with 'Presence', a
candid piece on acoustic guitar. This is just a momentary rest, since the disturbing moods return in an enhanced manner with 'Oniromante' - this is really a portrait of limbo turned into sounds of keyboard, guitar, flute and female singing, all of them confluent in a weird dynamics.
The last 90 seconds bring a shade of light with a beautiful duet of acoustic guitar and vihuela. 'Espejismo' is pure thanatos, a sinister journey into the catacombs of the heart: not unlike the preceding track, the last minute provides an unexpected relaxing twist to the theme's development. 'El Triángulo,' on the other hand, goes to dark places in full swing, albeit with a proper touch of subtlety that makes it comfortably coherent together with the remaining tracks in the album. This sequence of tracks 3 - 5 serves as a continuing highlight. 'Ojo de Venado' changes things quite a bit with those gracious percussive arrangements and those elegant flourishes on treated guitar. The suite 'Las Cuatro Imágenes' is the most ambitious item in this repertoire. This one pretty much sounds like a compendium of what the album is all about: 'La Noria' is a bit more colorful than most racks in the album; 'Día Interior' is full of shades; 'Mirándome Mirarme' states a hypnotic frenzy; and finally, 'Una Larga Agonía' displays a twilight atmosphere than at times becomes almost silent, but the last 30 seconds are filled with an impressive, spectral crescendo. This suite is a masterful example of genius texture managing.
The closer 'El Enyerbao' bears influences from the musique concrete tradition and the tribal side of experimental prog, with a strong emphasis on percussive instruments from the Mexican deserts' folk music. All in all, "Al Filo" is an excellent opus by JLFL. The reason why I don't give it the same rating that I gave to "Sol Central" or "Designios" is that I am particularly more impressed by the colorful side of JLFL's music, but if your avant-prog tastes give preferential room to the minimalist trend, you might as well find this album a masterpiece, pure and simple. 4 or 5 stars for this album, I cannot imagine how it could get a lower rating.