Jorge Drexler - Salvavidas de hielo

The Guardian 60

(Warner)

Since winning an Oscar in 2005 for his theme song to The Motorcycle Diaries, Uruguay’s Jorge Drexler has become an eminence across the Latin diaspora, his songs much covered and graced with awards. Where his last album, Bailar en la Cueva, successfully embraced funk, electronica and rap, here he returns to the clever acoustic samba that made his name. A qualified doctor, Drexler boasts a questing intellect, referencing Gabriel García Márquez on Despedir a los glaciares, a sad farewell to our planet’s glaciers, addressing migration on Moviemento, and the ephemeral nature of life on the title track, a duet with Mexico’s Natalia Lafourcade that translates as “Ice Life Jackets”. Gentle but classy.