Y si el humo está en foco…

The story behind

Gustavo Cerati crafted a sonic journey in Bocanada that revolves around Y si el humo está en foco…, a track that breathes between the organic and the synthetic. The song begins with an ethereal air, almost as if the smoke mentioned in the title were floating above the chords, but at the two-minute mark everything becomes more earthly: a bass that coils into a repetitive pattern and drums that strike with a precision that doesn’t sound mechanical. There’s something in the way the sounds overlap — the echo of a guitar fading as the keyboard advances — that keeps the song from standing still. It’s not a perfect loop, but a cycle that stretches and contracts, as if alive. The most striking detail lies in the silences: just when it seems everything will explode, an unexpected breath changes everything.The album Bocanada was recorded between 1998 and 1999, at a time when Cerati had already moved past the Amor amarillo era and the end of Sueño Stereo with Soda Stereo. The musician was seeking something new, and this track is a fine example: it blends distorted guitars with electronic textures that then sounded like the future. The production, handled by him, doesn’t aim for a polished sound, but one that feels risky. Recorded in borrowed studios and with equipment that wasn’t the usual, the album ended up being one of those records that appear without warning and stay. Y si el humo está en foco… lasts 4:56, but within those minutes lie layers of sound that invite you to get lost.