Prepare to enter an aural labyrinth when you press play on an upcoming second album from Chile’s improvisational trio, Nichunimu – brought to you by independent label 577 Records. Led by adventurous trumpeter Benjamin Vergara, the group’s new hit, Calados, is an intense and hypnotic collection. It features three glorious tracks, offering a mental escape that spans over an hour!
Vergara has served as Artistic Director of the International Experimental Music Festival – Relincha (an annual delight in Valdivia) since 2014. He is also a professor at the School of Musical and Sonora Arts (Universidad Austral de Chile). As a trumpeter and educator, he focuses on improvising, written contemporary music, free jazz, and experimentation.
Nichunimu truly embodies the last 20 years of Chile’s experimental scene. Their roots took shape in 2014 between Valdivia and Santiago, when Vergara joined Nicolás Carrasco on the synthesizer and Matías Mardones on percussion. Together, they infuse abstract krautrock music with their own savory flavors of avant-garde minimalism and ritualistic noise. Their brilliant sounds are forged from repetition, textures, friendship, and an emphasis on the circular shapes that unite them.