Nicola Cruz - Hybridism [Multi Culti]

Format: 12" green vinyl.

Originally released after his acclaimed sophomore album, HYBRIDISM shows Ecuadorian producer Nicola Cruz at the peak of his exploratory powers. Now reissued on limited edition green vinyl, this expansive EP reappears with renewed relevance, blending North African rhythms, ethereal Persian motifs, and vocal fragments that evoke both ancestral traditions and imagined worlds. A contemporary vision of global exoticism, HYBRIDISM is a fundamental piece in Cruz’s ever-evolving sonic journey.

‘Aima,’ named for the chorus sung by Igbo girls from Nigeria, creates the illusion of having dusted off a lost LP. Its aesthetic details are reminiscent of 70s French exotica, masterfully produced, conveying a warmth and character rarely achieved with such style.

‘Naeku,’ in Cruz’s words, is “a sad song in minor keys, but with warrior energy, strength, and forward vision: one soul departs, but another arrives in the name of Naeku, a Maasai child. Not all mourning has to be suffering; a feeling I can relate to from where I come from, with a Quechua word: Llaquilla —sad, but happy. As always, the 303 brings that touch that reaches the heart.” If a template for the Multi Culti spirit ever existed, Cruz has synthesized the formula: Maasai lament filtered through Quechua wisdom, with a touch of 303 for the soul.

‘Drom Tradisie’ is a nostalgic vignette that captures the fantasy of a scenic horizon on a lost beach, a portrait drawn with the FM mastery of synthesizers that, somehow, is associated with tropical imagery.

‘Third Eye Dub’ delves deeper, exploring the fractal realm of concentration, a point where the oud (played by Nasiri) acts on the pineal gland. This inner journey through the cavernous depths of the subconscious rides on a gentle modular groove that transports the listener through this vast psychic expanse, with a filigree of Persian harmonies (in Shur, to be exact) tracing silhouettes in the darkness.

Finally, ‘Kawe’s Dream’ delves even further into the imaginary spaces of the mind. It is a sonic reconstruction of the Tibetan Bardo Thodol, or ‘Book of the Dead,’ a sacred text that guides the spirit in its passage out of the body. In Nicola’s words: “To paint that depth, I had those Tibetan chants in mind, which I ended up elaborating with Ableton’s vocoder over a piece of Ayan’s vocals (sung in an invented language). A few notes, and I got the gravity I was looking for in the song.” Something only a producer with Cruz’s ability could achieve.

The five pieces of Hybridism are sonically diverse, but all share an ephemeral quality, a pastoral and transient feeling that travels through the music: we hear the sounds pass by us, perhaps even catch a melodic hook, but the feeling is that of sand slipping through one’s hands: profound, elusive, beautiful.