Brooklyn indie outfit Salt Cathedral have spent six years fine-tuning their effervescent synth pop, and their latest effort, “muévelo,” may be their most addictive yet. The synth pop duo, composed of Bogotá-born Juli Ronderos and Nico Losada, quickly turned heads in Brooklyn’s indie scene for their intricate, bookish synth pop when they debuted as Il Abanico. In recent years, Ronderos and Losada have plunged into a new sonic universe, dabbling in genres like dancehall and reggae and drawing inspiration from the deep musical traditions of Colombia’s Caribbean coast – as well as Jamaican innovators like Assassin and Lee “Scratch” Perry, both of whom have collaborated with the duo in the past.
“muévelo” follows in this vein, blending pitch-shifted, chopped-up vocal samples, a skittering dembow riddim, and eyelash-batting lyrics that go down like a glass of sparkling rosé. The bilingual song also winks to El General, the godfather of reggae en español who helped lay the groundwork for reggaeton’s pop explosion with hits like “Tu Pum Pum” and “Muévelo, Muévelo,” some of the first Spanish-language dancehall tracks to appear on U.S. radio.
In a statement, Salt Cathedral says the song captures the future of Latinx pop. “To us, ‘muévelo’ is the new sound of Latin America. It reconciles being Latino with having a global mindset; they coexist and this is what it sounds like.”
The track will appear on Salt Cathedral’s forthcoming debut full-length.