SIGNOS

SIGNOS captures a powerful moment in Argentine music and culture. New wave was traveling down from the U.S. and Europe and informing a new pop movement with its roots in the Rock Nacional of the country's recent dictatorship period. Written off at first by the press to be a toyish novelty, the trio Soda Stereo established itself as a key player in the new aesthetic with the release of this third album. The juxtaposition of upbeat '80s flash with a keen sense of irony permeates the entire production. The dynamic force of Bosio and Alberti's rhythm section gives frontman Cerati just the right push to take his lyrics, fretwork, and haunting trill up into the stratosphere. With an arrangement unlike any other on the album, "Sin Sobresaltos" ("Without Fright") is a testament to the band's career-long avoidance of formula. The tune is a magnificent pop thrill, with driving, up-tempo drumming, a jubilant horn section, and Cerati's melodic rhythm guitar work, a la Andy Summers of the Police. The sky turns a little more overcast on "No Existes" ("You Don't Exist"), with entwined, plaintive piano and guitar lines and Cerati sounding like the Cure's Robert Smith as he sings of tussles with phantoms.