El Cartel - Fronteras (2025) [Hi-Res]

The roads of the desert rock are inscrutable. A chance guitar meeting between Richard Ahlsen and Jorgen Hansen five years ago has grown into the eight-man band El Cartel's debut album, Fronteras.
- It started with a common love for atmospheric music from desert areas, mariachi, Morricone and spaghetti westerns, Richard and Jorgen explain.
The reality is that the desert deposits in the Fredrikstad district are relatively few, probably limited to the occasional football gravel field and a few small sandboxes.
But this is where the magic of music comes in, its ability to move us at lightning speed over the greatest distances, from the plank City to landscapes where the sun rises and sets over cacti, as well as exotic and potentially dangerous wildlife.
El Cartel has a large bird with outstretched wings as its symbol. One that can be seen hovering over a desert landscape.
When you hear the songs and music that make up Fronteras, it is easy to imagine the big screen, the one that unfolds in a bird's eye view.
The music is entirely written by El Cartel jointly, while the lyrics are written by the band's singer, Emil Nordbaek.
In addition to the trio Ahlsen, Hansen and Nordbaek, El Cartel counts bassist Mats Andre Andersen, drummer Nicolai Gregersen, keyboardist Stephan Reis and trumpeters Espen Christoffersen and Tommy Bakkelund.
A key instrument in El Cartel's soundscape, the almost secret ingredient that makes the huevos rancheros irresistible, is the vihuela, played by Richard. A predecessor to the modern classical acoustic guitar, which had its heyday in the 1500s. Vihuelan often pulls off desert rock's most insistent grooves.
But anyone who hears Fronteras will understand that this is very much about an essential ensemble interaction.
Masterfully recorded by producer Magnus Abelsen (with a background in Fredrikstad bands such as The Navigators) in his own City Life Studio located right in the center of Fredrikstad.
El Cartel has taken its time there and the superior sonic result is heard whether you are glued to the speakers or hovering under the ceiling in the living room.
Fronteras is released on Friday 23. "Fronteras "and"Don Alvarado Drive".