Abrete Gandul

Chilean prog rock outfit Abrete Gandul first reached a broad international audience through its 2011 album Enjambre Sismico, issued by Fading Records, itself an affiliate of Italy’s AltrOck label. The personnel responsible for that record, however, bore little resemblance to the Santiago-based trio that had coalesced in 1999. At its inception the band functioned chiefly as an outlet for singer and guitarist Mauricio Dell, who performed under the alias Doctor Octava; according to ProgArchives he assembled the project alongside his friend, drummer Antonio Arceu, and bassist Pablo Garcia. Although the three recorded a set of Dell’s compositions, the earliest Abrete Gandul release to achieve any circulation—even as a private pressing—was the 2000 album ¿Bichos=Dichos?. That effort retained Dell and Arceu while adding guitarist-flutist Rodrigo Maccioni and bassist Rodrigo Garcia, with Pablo Garcia contributing fretless bass on two tracks. Listeners who encountered the record often likened its sound to King Crimson yet found Dell’s idiosyncratic vocal style unappealing.

By the time Abrete Gandul delivered its follow-up, Cuentos Para Dormir, in 2005, both Dell and Rodrigo Garcia had departed. The new lineup comprised Maccioni, Arceu, bassist Pedro Santander, keyboardist Jaime Acuña, and second guitarist Rodrigo Pinto. Entirely instrumental and marked by an eclectic prog approach—particularly the guitarists’ frequent recourse to Robert Fripp’s later arpeggiated Crimsoid patterns—the album earned favorable notices from an expanding international prog audience. Pinto soon withdrew to pursue solo endeavors, leaving the remaining quartet of Maccioni, Arceu, Acuña, and Santander to prepare Enjambre Sismico. On several tracks they were augmented by saxophonist and clarinetist Estratos Akrias of the Chilean prog group Akinetón Retard, resulting in a stylistically varied collection that extended the band’s reach well beyond Chile.