Allá - Es Tiempo (Album)

The trippy, sun drenched, tropical musings of Allá (Spanish for 'over there’) are as far removed as imaginable from the brow-furrowing earnestness of many of their fellow Chicago-dwellers. In fact the Mexican-American trio seem positively and unflinchingly in touch with summer throughout their latest long player, which is wonderfully bereft of anything even approaching gloom.

Cinematic, sweeping, string laden opener, 'Una dia otra noche’, and the intensely joyful bossa nova of 'Solo Un Milagro’ pretty much sum up the essence of the album, but what makes this band interesting and becomes increasingly evident on repeated listening, is their playful bent on pigeonhole-defying experimentation - shifting effortlessly and convincingly through brooding instrumentals, featherweight hip-hop cliché, and Stereolab-esque automata.

With a lighthearted desire to wrongfoot you, you can’t help but be drawn into this album. The ambition is clear and Allá’s ability to pull off a neat volley of consistently plausible genre-hopping tricks should be applauded – goodness knows how many have failed on that score.