What I Listened to in August (and July and September)
The album is Paloma, by Loma Suyo (released by Earthly Measures, July 2026)
I have no idea if the folktronica duo known as Loma Suyo intend with their compositions to counteract the bizarre negativity and hostility invoked by America’s current regime of trolling meanies. But the effect of their new album, Paloma, is truly uplifting, sublime, calming, joyous, and makes the listener feel strangely intelligent–even wise. Definitely the opposite of bizarrely negative, angry, and hostile. The title itself may give away their intent. Paloma, I believe, means dove in Spanish.
I’ve been entranced by singer-songwriter Liz Fullerton’s intimate, lilting voice and poetic lyrics for years – ever since her Honey Watts days in Philadelphia. She sings much of this brilliant new collection of Loma Suyo’s in Spanish. Fullerton spent a large part of her childhood in Mexico. Ish Quintero grew up in Colombia. The sound of the southern Americas is certainly sewn into the sonic tapestry of this album. However, I hear strains of North Africa in many numbers as well. Also Afro Beat. Even doses of what I think of as Cosmic Dreamscape.
Musically, the ten songs on Paloma are informed by multi-instrumental trip-hop groove-meister Quintero, who plays everything from harmonica, guitar, bass, synth and various percussion instruments to the flute-like Colombian gaita, West Africa’s ngoni, the mbira (aka kalimba), and a kind of small Andean lute called a charango. Also, influencing the sound for most every song is the hypnotic guitar work of Jason Hosier who has also been touring with the Senegalese master percussionist Aba Diop & the Yermande Family.
People don’t think enough these days about the blending of melodic styles, harmonics, and rhythms that many musicians and songwriters worldwide are offering up. We are 8.3 billion global citizens. So many of us are on the move, in search of new homes and safe landing places. Despite the fear and instinctive aggression a certain some feel towards new and different people, we all know that the stranger we meet on the street today could be our neighbor tomorrow. It’s never been true that America is a singular melting pot. The whole world is a constant mixture of human broth, chunky histories, and aromatic hopes and dreams moving all over, connecting, bouncing off each other, coming back together.
What we’ve generically called World Music, should maybe these days be recognized as perhaps the dominant “style” of everything. Maybe we should call it something new, like Global Fusion.
My hypothesis since the 1970s when I first heard Reggae, Ethiopian Jazz, and Celtic Beat is that the blending of styles and traditions has always been a thing for musicians and audiences alike and it always will be. Which is one reason why it’s so obvious that music leads all the arts in helping everyone in the world become aware that we’re all on the same dance floor together.
Paloma is one of the best examples I’ve heard in years proving my hypothesis. Everything about Loma Suyo has always been about new forms of beauty and groove. As far as I’m concerned, Paloma is my pick for the soundtrack album of the summer–probably autumn as well.
Check out the album here: ttps://earthlymeasures.bandcamp.com/album/loma-suyo-paloma