As discussed in her interview with Rob Turner in The Wire 464, during the making of her new Spanish language sci-fi concept album ¡Ay!, Colombian musician Lucrecia Dalt compiled and listened to lengthy playlists of uplifting music spanning Latin, devotional, jazz, and more. The tracks – many of which Dalt came across through recommendations from her family – helped her through the process of departing from some of her earlier work, bringing her singing to the fore and enhancing the playful, joyous spirit of her music.

Following a conversation about the song “Ay José” by AfroCuban star Graciela, which inspired her album's title, Dalt clarifies why she was drawn to certain music when making her own vocal-led tracks: “One thing that I find liberating in tropical music, and even in flamenco, is that you can really make the words elastic,” she tells Turner. “And I wanted to expand words to the point where it’s difficult to understand what I’m saying. Some people have complained about that! But I wanted this stretching, timeless feeling to it.”

Now, Dalt has put together a playlist of the tracks she listened to for Wire readers to enjoy as accompaniment to that cover feature. She explains more below:

“While frustrated one day while working on my new album, and wanting to trash my song “Enviada” for spiralling into a deep state of corruption, Scott Walker’s “It’s Raining Today” affronted me with some much needed questions: What if there was a sudden stop in the song? What if there was a cluster of strings and synths on one side of the track, alienating it completely? What if my voice sounded even deeper? And what if all this creeping around could be balanced with a simple flute hook like the one in Roberto Carlos’s “Detalles”, and end in a slow tumbao delight like that of “Yo No Tengo Pena” by Angel Canales and Markolino Dimond?

“Another day while I was visiting Marta Salogni in London to show her early demos, she mentioned how the way I was using reverb reminded her of Tom Waits’s Real Gone. I smiled and thought, “Ok, she understands!" On my way back to the hotel, “Hoist That Rag” shook “Atemporal” with minimal but radical interventions of distorted temple blocks and a harsh background shaker.

“This playlist compiles these two tracks alongside many others that accompanied me in thought processes while making ¡Ay!.”

Read Rob Turner's interview with Lucrecia Dalt in The Wire 464. Wire subscribers can also read the issue online via the digital library. ¡Ay! is released by RVNG Intl on 14 October.