The Suggestive Sounds of Paula and Pablo

By Paul Acquaro

Paula Shocron - Tarot Sonoro (self-released, 2025)

Argentinian pianist Paula Shocron's Tarot Sonoro is, as the name clearly states, a presentation of the tarot as tones, and one that is at times as mystical and open for interpretation as the fortune teller's toolset itself. The tarot, a fertile source of inspiration works, a bit like a structured daydream—its images giving just enough symbolic material to pretend there’s something mystical at play while you’re making up your own story. Each card is like a gentle nudge toward reflection, or here, towards a sound.

 

Shocron captures it in the liner notes, entitled MANIFESTO, which can be read on her Bandcamp page:

 

The tarot as a sensitive oracle, music as a divine channel.

Vibration as a universal language, intuition as inner listening.

The Major Arcana as travelers of time and sound.

In the melody of the present, the rhythm of transformation.

 

The music is quiet, contemplative, just Shocron's gentle, breathing work at the piano adorned and augmented here and there with percussive and textural elements. Starting with 'El Loco', the first of 22 short pieces representing the 22 major cards - known as the Major Arcana - which apparently are linked to major life events, the journey begins. It begins with a tinkling of the keys, a bit off an off-key warble to the notes of the atonal melody. This leads to 'El Mago,' which begins with more gravitas, deep down the left=hand side of the keys. Single notes lead upwards, spacious and deliberate, to be joined by percussive clink and clatter and eventually taking a mysterious bend. 'La Sacerdozita' is build around a cycle of chords that brushes up again electronic whispers. Each piece has a unique approach, but all are united by generous space and classical underpinnings. Some are more uptempo like 'La Torre,' which cycles about with a hopeful lilt and others like 'La Luna' are apparitions in the mist, while the track 'La Muerte' is a primal soundscape. 

 

Dark, contemplative, mysterious, Tarot Sonoro is a trip through the subconscious and deserves a quiet listen to experience it's gentle impact. 

 

In addition to the recording, there is a set of tarot cards, illustrated by Sandra Ureta Marín. You can see these at Shocron's website.

 

Pablo Diaz - otro ritmo (Archivo Veintidós, 2025)

Speaking of soundscapes, Pablo Diaz, Paula's partner in the SLD Trio, which made a tremendous impression on me about 10 years ago, has been taking his work with solo percussion into unusual territories in the intervening years. In recent years, he released the collection of purely acoustic percussion, Planos De Estratificación, on Sello Postal (2024) and Son Esos Ecos on scatterArchive (2025), a project rooted in field recordings and percussion, and at the tail end of the year, Otro Ritmo, where he explored cymbal resonance in creating drones and melodies. 

 

Checking out the latter, Otro Ritmo, is a fascinating and focused affair. The opening and title track begins with the faint sounds of birds and what you could hear as percussve cricket chirps. Working through the textures are gentle drones and elongated tones. The next track, 'es una estructura' is more insistent with its cadence interrupted and then augmented by droning tones.

 

The ambiance of the recording is key to the recording. Birds appear throughout, as does the crunch of foot steps on gravel and what seems like church bells (on the track 'fragil' - or is Diaz playing glockenspiel?). Then, there are the various tones that could be made through the cymbals and/or electronics. The mystery of the sounds and textures only adds to the captivating sonic pictures. Otro Ritmo is an immersive experience for the patient listener.