Evelí Ray’s “Tiempo” brings the Argentine cueca into an alternative pop song about mortality and the traces people leave in each other. The bombo legüero gives an organic rhythmic base, while piano, saxophone and electronic elements move beyond. The song comes from a project based in Barcelona, with musicians from Catalonia and Latin America, and that mix of backgrounds is part of its sound.
She returns to time as something that disappears drop by drop. “Solo el amor que tú das” is a simple answer to the question of what survives. Footprints erased by the sea brings the idea back to the body and the world around it. She also remembers the moments when someone took their hand, when the desire to live, love and know was still there.
These memories give the song a human scale. Time passes for everyone, but what happens between people does not become meaningless just because it ends. The refrain keeps coming back to the same few words, like a thought that cannot be settled once and for all. The sea returns, too, as an image of departure and renewal. “Tiempo” does not ask for a way out of mortality. It asks what we do with the time we have, and the answer stays close to the people we love.
