The Viaje EP starts with a murmur before guiding itself into life. This is a release all about travelling, full of inquisitive notes, open-ended melodies and a restless sense of invention. It’s the third EP that Venezuelan group Dolli have released this year and definitely one of their best.

I had been listening to the record for a number of weeks (it featured on our La Gozadera Nueva Mixtape) while jumping onto buses and trains but it wasn’t until one restless night that I lay in bed listening to the record in the stone cold silence of night that it truly made an impact.

The group use subdued beats, layers of synths and a variety of instruments to create a tapestry that perfectly captures a dream-like state of mind, one where there is plenty of movement of thought even if the body itself is stationary.

“Abriendo Los Ojos” (Opening The Eyes) opens the EP with an accordion seemingly taking on the role of heartbeat, ushering the body into life – and bringing into mind the US group DeVotchka – while beatific sounds resonate in the backdrop. Following track “Cuando El Ávila Te Ve” (When El Ávila Sees You) takes a harder approach, rougher beats highlighting the moment when the mountains around Caracas come into view. Perhaps the highlight of the album is final track “Regresando a la Marea” (Returning to the Sea), which marries an insistent hip-hop beat with flurries of xylophones and synths, and brings the EP to a euphoric close.

Dolli themselves refer to the album as a “a musical journey from the metropolis to the sea, crossing the great mountain that shelter us who live in Caracas, Venezuela” and without going to Venezuela oneself it’s hard to imagine a more visceral document of that journey.

You can listen to Dolli’s Viaje EP – and download it – at dolli.bandcamp.com/track/regresando-a-la-marea

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