As a follow-up to his debut LP Lágrimas, a high-energy reggaeton-inspired electronic release featuring the likes of Virgen Maria and DJ Sustancia, Safety Trance’s latest album sacrificio epitomizes his subversive sound. The stand-out single, “most of me (is elsewhere)” shows that Safety Trance has truly found his place outside of the club.
Working under the name “Cardopusher” in the underground and club spaces since 2004, Venezuelan producer and DJ Luis Garbàn began creating under the name “Safety Trance” to expand his artistic horizons and “explore creating real songs with vocalists.” His most popular song, “El Alma Que Te Trajo,” features fellow Venezuelan musician Arca and combines a hard-hitting electric sound with a reggaeton influence. Sometimes abrasive and always contagiously danceable, Safety Trance is continuing to demonstrate his expansive range.
Vocalists Sega Bodega and Eartheater ground “most of me (is elsewhere)” in a space that is dreamlike and foggy. Leaning into his typical, pounding electronic sound, Safety Trance’s production is a slow, punctuated pulsing. Sega Bodega cuts through the haze with distorted, reverberating vocals that evoke the NUXXE sound of his latest album Romeo. Placed in hypnotic contrast, Eartheater (“Supersoaker,” “Solid Liquid Gas”) hits mellow operatic heights more reminiscent of Maria Callas than anything else. The song oscillates between saccharine lilt and some grungier depths to achieve its ethereal feeling. With lyrics like “Most of me is elsewhere, but my body is here,” the track is floaty and soft. It feels like a semi-eerie tranquilization. Distancing himself from what he is best known for, “most of me (is elsewhere)” brings Safety Trance into new territory.