Music Review: Amigos Imaginarios' Ice Cream

by Austin Krentz

Amigos Imaginarios is an internet-based duo consisting of Árbol Ruiz (from Colombia; living in France) and Caleb Chase (living in Massachusetts). Over the past four or so years they have existed as an “Email Duo” where all contact - musical or not - happened digitally. This is not unheard of in our post-pandemic, Zoom-filled world, but it certainly makes coordination more difficult and often leads to disjointed and flimsy music. Unless, as is in this case, the musicians are fully in sync and tapped-in.

The Amigos first album Pick Flowers (2021) was released following a cold email sent to the label Bud Tapes. They described the album as: “an album about love being outside, inside everywhere” and it consists of 16 minutes of Ultra Twee music. The digitality of the album is obvious. The vocals are rarely un- processed and some of the instruments are simply MIDI approximations. However, the album’s soul and heart are massive.

The album mostly exists as an aimless stream of sounds with most of the “songs” returning to Dyonisian mush shortly after they form. Some sounds are obvious and familiar, some are contrived, but all are played personally for the enjoyment and delight of the listener and performer. The album exists not only in your headphones and speakers, but also in your bedroom, home, community, and world.

Their second album, El Jardin Encantado (2022), sees the group
continue down their trail of earthly delights with increased clarity, purpose, and technique. The slogan for this album is “songs for the animals of the planet earth” - illustrating their newfound groundedness. The album exists in the same whimsical and amateurish haze as Pick Flowers, but with more obvious structure, sounds, lyrics, and melodies. Each track exists as a perfect little bite whether it be a synthesizer fantasia or an acoustic guitar singalong. Three tracks stand out in particular: “El sapo verde,” “The Rhubard Pies and the Butterflies,” and “Slugs Strawberries.”

For the next two years, the band did not make any music together (although Caleb did make plenty with various other groups and as other monikers). That all changed in July of 2024 when the two Amigos met together in-person for the first time. Over the next several weeks, they performed live together for the first time and recorded all of the sounds that would eventually be formed
into their new album Ice Cream (Jan 10, 2025). “A reflection of all the ice cream we ate together!” as they called it on Instagram.

Upon first seeing this album’s cover art, I was almost convinced it was by a different group called Amigos Imaginarios. Gone are the cute and quaint images of the first two albums. Instead of folklore creatures, this album is covered with electricity, advertising, and garish digitalia. And yet, the album begins with solo acoustic guitar; as natural as can be.

The first three tracks are more-of-less variations on the same idea (to greater and greater effect). Ice Cream takes a moody acoustic guitar romp and builds it until it becomes a cyclone of synths and percussion. “Rio” is built around a simple, melodic guitar line and places it on top of stomping percussion (the loudest on any of their tracks so far). “Mentirosa” takes about four different guitars of different styles and uses them to create a dense soundscape far
closer to Shoegaze than Folk. Each of these tracks has infectious melodies and they are full of lovely sounds, proving that the Amigos are still the best at their type of music. However, the fourth track “Hipnótika” is where things take a step towards the truly spectacular.

Throughout their career, the Amigos have produced a wide variety of songs. That being said, each of these songs could still easily fall under the banners of “Indie” or “Lo-Fi.” “Hipnótika” is a Reggaetón track. The song’s quick tempo, blaring horn sounds, and lethargic, dejected vocals are certainly unlike any other track in the group’s discography, and also unlike most tracks ever written. The number of barely-aligning loops is mind-boggling and the whole track seems aimed at maximum annoyance and/or delirium. It is sweaty and panicked, and yet still full of the soul and charm that is infused in each of their other tracks.

“Hoy estoy aquí” continues the band’s foray into Dancehall music with a more mellow Cumbia track. Of course, they don’t play it straight. The song is filled with barely-in-tune flutes, childish mallet percussion, and Mario 64-esque vocal ‘Doo’s. As wonderful as the
arrangements are, the vocal melodies are what truly propel the track (as is with most of the tracks on the album). The song even contains the lovely chorus lyric “Today I’m here and tomorrow I will live.”

The longest track on the album is 2 minutes and 49 seconds. Most of the songs here are over before they even begin, fleeting like fireflies. “Lightning Strike” is led by an intricate Chiptune bassline and covered with all sorts of deflated accordion sounds. “Como te extraña” is the only track without prominent percussion and instead consists entirely of high pitched keyboard noises and vocals. “Aléjate” is another mellow dance track with ultra-quiet vocals and a shrieking synth lead, but the track can barely last 90 seconds before fading
into ambiance. For most tracks on this album, I would say they could be much longer- I could easily listen to seven minutes of Hipnótika- but the nature of the Amigos’ art is so ephemeral and minute that doing so would completely change their whole artistic trajectory.

The album ends with one final gift: “No debiste volver”: the best track in their discography and probably one of the best songs to come out in years. The line between Dance and Folk becomes fully permeable and ideas and emotions are allowed to flow freely. Every sound is caustically saccharine and the total presence of the track beats down on you like a smiling sun. I will be whistling and humming this song for the next 30 years.

Austin Krentz is a farmer and music lover from Berlin, Wisconsin.