Frankie Cosmos and Juan Wauters Team Up For 'Modus Operandi'

eloved Uruguay-born songwriter Juan Wauters, shares his second single "Modus Operandi (ft. Frankie Cosmos)" off forthcoming album, Wandering Rebel, out June 2 via Captured Tracks. The release is accompanied by a video directed by Fatos Marishta, which features Frankie Cosmos and Juan roaming NYC aimlessly, trying to communicate on their flip phones. The album features many other familiar female collaborators like Y La Bamba and Zoe Gotusso, who sings on his first single "Milanesa al Pan.".

Quote from director Fatos Marishta: The idea of Modus Operandi is that even though Juan lives elsewhere now, his essence stays in New York. Sometimes he's in NY, sometimes he's not, he can be anywhere. We shot through one week in two different countries with Juan wandering through the streets of Montevideo during the inaugural carnaval parade and Greta in Union Square, NYC. As they are having a conversation about New York City, Greta senses and sees Juan in the vicinity but can't seem to reach him.

We stuck to the street style shooting on Digital/miniDV cameras and the process was exciting to see unfold in a back and forth from opposite sides of the hemisphere, which we see come together in Modus Operandi.

There's freedom to be found in consistency. Until recently, Juan Wauters may not have agreed with this statement. As a touring musician and multinational citizen, transience had always come naturally to him. Circumstance, however, recently prompted him to reconsider the benefits of staying in one place: "During COVID I discovered / that I like stability," he muses on the title track of his new album, "but the world still sees me / as a wandering rebel." His most introspective work to date, Wauters' sixth solo album Wandering Rebel finds the artist taking stock of how he's changed, how the world sees him, and what he wants out of life.

From his early days as a founding member of Queens-based garage act The Beets to his impressive solo career, Wauters has spent the better part of the last decade on the road. When he wasn't touring or recording, he was gathering material, traversing Latin America to write his 2019 Spanish-language opus La Onda de Juan Pablo, then heading North to collaborate with friends like Mac DeMarco, Homeshake, Nick Hakim and more for 2021's boisterous Real Life Situations. Apart from intermissions in his home base of Jackson Heights, Queens, Wauters has been notoriously hard to pin down.

Throughout Wandering Rebel, Wauters attempts to reconcile the stability he's come to enjoy with the nomadic restlessness that's characterized his life thus far. In the end, though, it's the interplay of both of these elements that makes the album so strong. Though it's marked by introspectivity, it was recorded in classic Wauters fashion, with numerous collaborators on trips to New York, LA, Brazil and Argentina.

At the same time, its cohesion is owed to a period of reflection that's only possible in repose. Wauters' moments of honest self-reflection lend depth to his penchant for playful musical experimentation, while his ever-growing network of collaborators across the globe add nuance and fluidity to his songwriting.

For a brief period during the writing process, Wauters spent a month alone in a remote Uruguayan beach town, armed with only an iPad (which he charged using a solar panel) and his thoughts. In the end, only one song from this stint made it onto Wandering Rebel ("Mensaje Codificado"), but somehow the entire album feels as if it's written from this vantage point: an artist, back in his home country, looking out at the world and considering the life that's led him there. The album is anchored in Juan's signature Latin-influenced indie folk.

JUAN WAUTERS US TOUR

Thur, June 1 - Hudson, NY - The Half Moon

Fri ,June 2 - Freeport, ME - Desert of Maine

Sat, June 3 - Cambridge, MA - Lilypad

Sun, June 4 - Philly, PA - Kung Fu Necktie

Tue, June 6 - Columbus, OH - Rumba Café

Wed, June 7 - Louisville, KY - PORTAL

Thur, June 8 - Rock Island, IL - Rozz Tox

Fri, June 9 -Chicago, IL - Avondale Music Hall

Sat, June 10 - Detroit, MI - Lager House

Mon, June 12 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl

Tue, June 13 - Charlotte, NC - Petra's

Wed, June 14 - DC,DC - Comet Ping Pong

Tue, June 27 - Seattle, WA - Substation

Wed, June 28 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir/ Monqui

Fri, June 30 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord

Sat, July 1 - Modesto, CA - Greens on Tenth

Sun, July 2 - Los Angeles, CA - ECHO

Mon, July 3 - San Diego, CA - Voodoo Room at House of Blues

Wed, July 5 - Phoenix, AZ - The Rebel Lounge

Thur, July 6 - Tucson, AZ - Club Congress

Fri, July 7 - Albuquerque, NM - Sister

Sat, July 8 - Denver, CO - Hi-Dive

Mon, July 10 - Oklahoma, OK - Res Head

Tue, July 11 - Austin, TX - The Ballroom

Wed, July 12 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall

Thu, July 13 - Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves

Fri, July 14 - Nashville, TN - Third Man

Sun, July 16 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Made

Photo: Fran Cunha

To post a comment, you must register and login.