If he had been born in London or New Cork, Pedro Vigil would be now a music star as prestigious as Moby, but his birthplace was Gijón (Asturias, Spain) and you cannot fight against destiny. After the end of Penelope Trip, he started working as a producer of Nosoträsh' first demo tape and surprised many people by creating a solo project, named after his surname: Vigil.

A versatile musician that provides every single of his compositions with very detailed, precious arrangements (strings, pianos, brass and percussion) and likes to collaborate with the best local talents, Vigil's solo career started out with “Música para hacer la digestión” (Siesta 78, 1998), an album that could come from Italy, Brazil or England: instrumental music with traces of Lalo Schifrin, Sergio Mendes, Esquivel or Burt Bacharach -to name just a few- in its DNA. The descriptive titles of the songs (“Reggio Calabria”, “Maûna Loa”, “Pacific Grand Orchestra” or “Safari”) gave away the sophisticated, cosmopolitan intentions of its author.

A second album, “Exquisita decadencia” (Siesta 138, 2001), confirmed the achievements of the previous album and added more flavours to the recipe: exotic rhythms and retro scores. Still loyal in his love for bossanova and smoky jazz, here Vigil displayed all his talents to give us a lesson in delicacy, ornamented with a wide array of delicate tones, ranging from Brazil “(Chasco fiesta”, “Escola de futbol”) to the most cinematic lounge (“Secret cinema”, “Yasuhiro Ozu”), cocktail music (“Teisco del Rey”) or portraits of unconventional love (“Desayuno continental”).

Was “¿El fin de Vigil?”, the closing track of Vigil's second album, a hint about the end of this healthy project, or a new sample of Vigil's sense of humour? A new EP (“China Soul”, Siesta 188, 2004) revealed him again as a fanatic of Brazilian and lounge music. A step forward in his exoticism, he creates music for a luxury Chinese restaurant, soft-pop and approximations to bossa and classy soundtracks.

Vigil won't be a prophet in his own land, but he has a bunch of followers all over the world (Mexico, Taiwan or United States), still waiting for his new musical treat.

Víctor Rodríguez

 


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