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Rodrigo Y Gabriela: Area 52

ATO

Area 52, a play on military base Area 51, reconfigures nine tracks from Mexican acoustic guitar team Rodrigo Y Gabriela’s previous releases. The pair, who worked with producer Peter Asher, have enlisted a 13-piece Cuban orchestra called C.U.B.A. to interpret and reimagine numbers like “11:11,” the title track from 2009’s 11:11, and “Ixtapa,” from 2006’s self-titled disc. The resulting album is a grand collection of instrumental Latin numbers that veer drastically in style and tone. Where the duo’s usual numbers combine their own acoustic guitar skills, the musicians now layer and pare down the tracks as the disc unfolds. It’s an experiment that largely works and is moderately engaging, but why not just compose new songs to record here? “Ixtapa,” in particular, is a compelling number—nearly nine minutes in length as it collects and juxtaposes various Latin musical styles—but would the musicians’ effort have been better spent on a number we haven’t yet heard rather than just a new version? This duo is not known for making a straight album (see tribute-based disc 11:11 ) so it isn’t surprising that the nine re-tellings here rely on the listener’s relationship with Rodrigo Y Gabriela’s other work. What’s uncertain is whether they should.