As 2025 draws to a close, our final review of the year turns to the self‑titled debut from Chercán, a Chilean band offering a fascinating mélange of avant‑garde, genre‑blending styles and influences. It feels fitting, as we reflect on the passing year, that this album looks boldly to the future while also carrying a poignant echo of the past. Although our greatly missed friend and TPA colleague Jez Rowden never had the chance to hear it, I’m struck by how completely this music would have been right up his street.
Qualifying that assumption, Chercán was founded by drummer and percussionist Rodrigo González Mera who featured in two bands that very much floated Jez’s boat. He spoke highly of La Desooorden’s La Isla De Los Muertos (2003), Ciudad De Papel (2005), and their final album El Andarín (2012), which coincidentally signalled the demise of the band. A year later rock-fusioneers Homínido would appear featuring three core members of La Desooorden. Homínido would go on to record two albums, the first, Estirpe Lítica released in 2014 was much favoured by Jez and would go on to feature in TPA’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek The Decade in Review. Homínido’s second and final album, Alados prompted Jez to interview Rodrigo, another indication of the admiration he held for the music.
That lengthy preamble lays the groundwork for Chercán’s venture. Formed in 2019, the band’s early momentum was inevitably disrupted by the pandemic, but in November 2024 they finally emerged with their first release, the single Kalimba. It’s a wise introduction, with its playful percussion and infectious melodies framing Martín Peña’s vocals, making it perhaps the album’s most immediately accessible track.
By contrast, the proceeding track, Caen Las Hojas Blancas, presents Chercán at their most strident and visceral. A polyrhythmic onslaught of shifting dynamics and razor‑sharp metallic riffs is anchored by the explosive rhythm section of Rodrigo González Mera and bassist Simón Catalán. Intense, challenging, and ultimately rewarding, this six‑minute tour de force contains more ideas than many bands manage across an entire album.
Before moving further, it’s worth returning to the opener, La Culpa (‘The Guilt’). Rodrigo’s tumbling drum fills set the stage, with the band sliding deftly beneath Martín Peña’s vocal. Note here that across the album, Martín sings in his native Spanish, something that may deter some listeners, though the conviction and emotional clarity of his delivery quickly dispel any barrier. Like much of the album, La Culpa evolves constantly: here Roberto Faúndez’s guitar adds grit, Matías Bahamondes’ saxophone brings a jazzy hue, and the track dissolves into a sumptuous, tranquil middle section where Martín Peña’s melody is utterly beguiling. It’s the calm before a storm of an explosive, breath‑stealing finale…
With so many musical ideas flowing across the album, it would be exceedingly easy to get lost in the detail, so a broader screenshot is in order.
The haunting, melancholic strings of Desolación (En) (‘Desloation’) provide a brief, understated transition into Tiempos Paralelos (‘Parallel Times’). The mood initially remains subdued, gradually expanding as Martín Peña’s vocals ride a rippling bed of guitars. Matías Bahamondes contributes a delicious sax break before the band descends into a tortured finale that draws on the earlier Desolación (En). Las Mentiras Del Muro returns to the band’s heavier tendencies, maintaining the emotional intensity that defines the album’s central section.
The album’s epic centrepiece is the two‑part Relato De Una Obsesión suite, which broadens Chercán’s trans‑global palette with the Middle Eastern timbres of tabla, tanpura‑like drones, and Benjamín Ruz’s modal violin. Part I, Quimera, unfolds with a sweet, melodic tranquillity that always hints at darker undercurrents. The transition into Part II is seamless, and El Orate (‘The Madman’) delivers a frenzied escalation entirely befitting its title. The album closes with the rhythmically rich, mellow, jazz‑tinged 7 Colores, a serene conclusion of the band’s signature sound and a fitting finish.
Chercán is a finely written and thoughtfully conceived album which, though firmly rooted in the avant‑garde spectrum, remains remarkably accessible; melody is never sacrificed for the sake of experimentation. A passionate and bold opening statement and one that bodes well for the future.
TRACK LISTING
01. La Culpa (6:51)
02. Caen Las Hojas Blancas (5:46)
03. Kalimba (4:54)
04. Desolación (En) (1:10)
05. Tiempos Paralelos (5:13)
06. Las Mentiras Del Muro (5:14)
07. Relato De Una Obsesión, Part I: Quimera (6:50)
08. Relato De Una Obsesión, Part II: El Orate (6:04)
09. Colores (4:19)
Total Time – 46:20
MUSICIANS
Martín Peña – Vocals, Guitar Embellishments
Simón Catalán – Bass
Roberto Faúndez – Electric & Acoustic Guitars
Matías Bahamondes – Saxophone
Rodrigo González Mera – Drums, Percussion
~ With:
Benjamín Ruz – String Arrangements, Violin
Javiera González – Viola
Ariadna Kordovero – Cello
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Independent
Country of Origin: Chile
Date of Release: 4th March 2025
