Sergio Ch. Posts New Video & Single “Manto Negro”
Drone folk has kind of become the bread and melted butter of Sergio Chotsourian‘s solo work as Sergio Ch., but the new 10-minute single “Manto Negro” brings the two sides together in especially coherent fashion. Atop waves of organ and minimal guitar lead lines about four minutes into the proceedings, the vocals are a procession unto themselves; melodic and downtrodden-feeling without melodrama. I’d be surprised if this is the last incarnation this song will have, since Chotsourian has a tendency to revisit material and offer different interpretations through various recordings and outfits — his current trio, Soldati, released their debut album, Doom Nacional (review here), amid the global panic of Spring 2020 — and there seems to be plenty of ground to explore here. As it is, however, the immersion is palpable.
The song cycles through twice and makes short work of the 10 minutes it consumes. Organ is constant, but the guitar comes and goes, trading off with the vocals. Self-recorded, mixed and mastered, not to mention released, “Manto Negro” is a solo effort in the purest sense, and it has an intimacy to coincide.
…I’m gonna be honest with you. I firmly believe that the only reason you don’t hear Chotsourian‘s name in the same breath as people like Dylan Carlson is because he’s from Argentina. I’m not trying to belittle Carlson‘s history or Earth in saying that, but if Sergio Ch. was working in English and was a white dude from wherever, people would be lining up to fawn over his shit, critics included. I can think few songwriters in a heavy sphere who have a mindset as genuinely open and forward thinking as he does. Sorry, that’s just how I see it. He’s a key figure in South American heavy, and South American heavy is some of the world’s finest.
I got all wound up. I’ll take a deep breath and count to four. You enjoy the track:
Sergio Ch., “Manto Negro” official video
VIDEO OFICIAL DEL SINGLE DE SERGIO CH. – “MANTO NEGRO”
PRODUCIDO POR SERGIO CH.
VIDEO REALIZADO POR SERGIO CH.
[S.A.S. 115]
SERGIO CH. – GUITARRA, PIANO & VOCALS
GRABADO, MEZCLADO Y MASTERIZADO POR SERGIO CH. EN DEATH STUDIOS
ARTWORK POR SERGIO CH.
PRODUCIDO POR SERGIO CH.
SOUTH AMERICAN SLUDGE RECORDS
Sergio Ch., “Manto Negro”
South American Sludge Records on Thee Facebooks
South American Sludge Records on Bandcamp
Tags: Ararat, Argentina, Buenos Aires, Los Natas, Manto Negro, Sergio Ch, Sergio Ch. Manto Negro, Sergio Chotsourian, South American Sludge Records
Neither drone nor folk tend to grab me by the glads frequently but have you heard Sergio’s latest band-release Brno? That did grab me. Quite the dark trip.
I’ve not really followed all of his stuff post-Natas but I FINALLY have a copy of Toba Trance 1 and 2, which was perhaps the first opportunity to cut loose and showcase some of the freer exploration that has been Sergio’s bag since.
Something in the vocal and guitar tone on this one is giving me really strong memories of something I have seen on film recently, but I can’t get anywhere near what. Maybe it’s a synaesthesia false-memory.