J.Zunz

Obsidian rock is igneous, frequently dark, yet opaque. Hard edged and brittle, it's often been used both for weaponry and alchemical pursuits. Therefore when Lorena Quintanilla - the Mexican-based artist also known as J. Zunz - was searching for psychic inspiration for her next musical venture, she need have looked no further. "Once I chose the title, everything I read, saw, listened to, and thought about began to interconnect" she relates. "Obsidian became like a magnetic field." "In Mesoamerican cultures, it was used in many different ways - obsidian mirrors, for example, were tools for divination and spiritual vision. For many years, women have also been working with it as a form of healing, which is the part that really drew me in". Thereafter, Lorena set about creating an album entirely on her own terms, refracting this first spark through a prism of elemental approaches to create 'Obsidiana', a richly atmospheric, electronic-driven album replete with sensitivity and visceral intent. Driven by both the ghost and the heart of the machine, 'Obsidiana' opens up a portal whereby forbidding drone, ethereal ambience and insistent repetition intertwine elegantly to form a seamless whole. Paradoxically, this album - Quintanilla's third under the J. Zunz name on Rocket - manages to be both more aggressive and more gentle than anything she's previously created either on her own or in her work in Lorelle Meets The Obsolete. A study in balance, its emotional charge remains strong and intact whether on the eerie, almost Radiophonic ambience of 'Imago', the dancefloor-adjacent, Chris & Cosey-esque 'Osiris' or the abrasive, industrial-strength confrontation of 'Silvia'. On 'Final' meanwhile, Lorena is joined by her only main collaborator this time around, Freddie Murphy (Father Murphy) whose trumpet and synth abstractions offer further vivid colour to 'Obsidiana's spectrum. Lyrically meanwhile, 'Obsidiana' intersects deep personal explorations with the conflicts and contradictions of life in the unforgiving realm of 2026 - as Lorena says; "The process behind 'Obsidiana' was very abstract, yet I wanted the lyrics to stay grounded in the present and in reality. I am deeply influenced by what is happening around me politically, as well as locally and globally - dimensions I see as inseparable from each other" - this is clear in the intimidating 'Exorcizo Tu Voz', which intercepts mantric repetition with a mighty explosion of abrasive yet uplifting tumult. Ultimately however, 'Obsidiana', in all its sharp yet amorphous glory, is catharsis manifest. "Each song carries a clear and deliberate intention" Lorena emphasises. "To conjure, to exorcise, to strip away fear, to rediscover myself, to heal inherited sadness, and to reclaim the night that was taken from us."