Picking up an unusual moniker, particularly if you are officially entering the music scene, often signifies what kind of music you can expect from that artist. Or maybe not expect, particularly if it attempts (successfully or not) to skip all the usual music paths. Taking such a route is Seattle-based guitarist, singer and experimental music-maker Carlos Snaider, who picked up the moniker of Aquiestoy to come up with a debut album titled Til We Dissolve.
Snaider, or Aquiestoy, who at the same time self-produced the album, not only goes for that often elusive acoustic-meets-analogue route, but also presents us with bilingual lyrics here. It might sound simple and easy when put in writing, but such a concept (or concepts) can often go in one of the two possible directions – making all the right moves or turning into a complete mess along the way. At the same time, Snaider, who has Ecuadorian roots, adds those Latin jazz touches that you have to be truly familiar with to make them work properly.
Luckily for him, as well as his listeners, Aquiestoy (Snaider combines Spanish words “aquí” (here) and “estoy” (I am), which he translates as “ibehere”) has that precise touch to make it all work as he intended – light, easy-going beats as the base and an acoustic-analogue combination that actually has a sense and purpose, something that is not so achievable for some other artists. Yet, it is those Latin music touches which Snaider applies here that work as a perfect glue that makes all the presented musical elements give the sonic picture Aquiestoy intended.
