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Pigmy is the solo project of Vicente Maciá, founding member of '90s Spanish psych band Carrots. Highly influenced by late '60s/early '70s UK psych, folk-rock, and baroque pop (think Magna Carta, Fairfield Parlour, Pete Dello, Duncan Browne, Cat Stevens, Amazing Blondel) as well as Spanish '70s folk-pop/SSW (Solera, José y Manuel, Vainica Doble), Pigmy surprised everyone with his previous two albums, Miniaturas (2006) and Hamsterdam (2014), which are now cult items between psych-folk fans. After a long period of songwriting and recording, Pigmy returns with Manifestación, his long-awaited third album. And the result is stunning. Magical, out-of-time psychedelic folk-pop, in the same vein of Hamsterdam but this time incorporating medieval/Renaissance instruments (lute, recorder), giving Manifestación a very unique feel. A Latin poem opens the album, followed by the medieval sounding "Almendros en Flor" with great use of flute. "Manifestación", inspired by the "Rosarium Philosophorum" alchemy book from 1550, features the two main ingredients from the new Pigmy sound: psychedelia and renaissance music. You hear echoes of the first Duncan Browne on "El Hombre Menguante". Medieval atmosphere a la Magna Carta on "Incienso y Bengala", featuring trumpets and flugelhorn: "White magic from your lute, it sounds a strange equation." "Ana" is delicious folk-pop. Things get quite proggy on "Lo Sagrado en lo Profano", bringing to mind those obscure British bands from the early '70s on labels like Dawn or Neon. On "Mi Canción", Pigmy sings about crickets and grasshoppers to the rhythm of progressive, pastoral folk-rock. "Lachrimae Pavan" is an instrumental piece played only with lute. "It's me, let me in, I want to show you a garden", sings Pigmy on "Déjame Entrar", a melancholic folk song featuring violin, acoustic guitar, percussion, and recorder. "Septiembre" closes the album in a stellar way, folk-pop with female backing vocals, organ, vibraphone. RIYL: Magna Carta, Pink Floyd, Kaleidoscope, Fairfield Parlour, Strawbs.
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