"Auto" Is The First Solo Album Issued By Former NTVG Member Mateo Moreno

The debut of Mateo Moreno (the former bass player for No Te Va Gustar, and one of its founding members) hit the shelves in Uruguay in 2009. Mateo is actually a multi-instrumentalist, and he handled the majority of guitars (including charangos) and also some percussion on his first solo offering. He also arranged all woodwinds and strings.

I became interested enough to buy this album upon listening to its first single (the outstanding “Simple”) on the radio. The song is a true capsule of sensibility and sensitivity in which different facets of affection are studied as if they were in the same plane, concluding in each case that love is a simple manifestation in itself. You can try to overcomplicate it, and you can also try to make it stand even simpler than it is. It will be all to no avail.

“Simple” is the best cut of the whole disc, and I also have a lot of time for the unbridled folk of “Souvenir” and the moody “Princesa Oscura” [Dark Princess], a song that mixes electronic passages with autochthonous sections in a surprisingly spontaneous way. And those who long for Mateo’s own evolution of the sound of No Te Va Gustar can always check out “Anestesiandote” [Anesthetizing Yourself], the best exponent of rock & roll the disc has to offer.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album does not hold that well together. If anything, it clearly sags and it should have been trimmed – 15 songs in the can are too much. I even have trouble remembering their names, let alone their melodies. “Todo Lo Que Hay Ver” [All That There Is To Be Seen] is too descending of No Te Va Gustar’s music, whereas “Estrella Fugaz” [Shooting Star] is inspired by a sincere sentiment that could not translate into a compelling song – I am sorry to say it, but it ended sounded mawkish. And songs like the opening “Desierto Digital” [Digital Desert] and “El Reloj” [The Clock] leave you expecting something that doesn’t come during their duration, something which is definitely insinuated but that never materializes in the end.

“It’s Such An Easy Game” and “La Abuela Del Fin” are mixed bags, with the former having a funky bass part that is a lot of fun, and the latter combining phased and full vocals to very good effect.

And the two final cuts are honestly good – “Efecto Domino” [Domino Effect] has a menacing introduction that makes you come back if you had drifted away from the room (something that happened to me every time I played the album), while “Destino Azul” [Blue Destiny] is striking – how something so bare can fill so many spaces. The lyrics are up there with “Simple”, too. The end couplet is particularly moving: “Fuimos soñando y se nos dio/podría ser peor” [We went along as we dreamed and it all came true/it could have been much worse].

As I said above, the album is too long for its own good. You can’t accuse Mateo of complacency or slacking, but he has to understand that sometimes less can definitely be more. It is a good debut, but I know he will do best the second time around. I am eagerly looking forwards to his next release. He has what it takes for improving over this by leaps and bounds.

Rating: 6.5/10

Mateo Moreno’s official website is found here. And this is his MySpace profile.