Circo Beat

Fito Paez’s 1992 album *El Amore Despues del Amor* made him one of the biggest names in Argentinian music, a songwriter who reconciled expressive psychedelia with modern production and boundary-blurring arrangements. Co-produced by Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, this streamlined Paez’s eclecticism even further, conjuring Paul McCartney (“Normal”) and Elvis Costello (“Mariposa Tecknicolor”) while still leaving room for detours—see “Dejarlas Partir,” a soul ballad carried by flute and accordion. Though Paez was more expressive and comparatively better known, it’s interesting to think of American indie bands like Flaming Lips and Olivia Tremor Control as contemporaries: kids weaned on ‘60s music trying to fashion their influences into something new.

Circo Beat is a natural follow-up to the critically acclaimed El Amor Despues del Amor, from 1993.