Uruguayan singer-songwriter Juan Wauters continues to defy musical borders with “Manejando Por Pando,” the latest single from his upcoming album MVD LUV, out June 27 via Captured Tracks. Premiered on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, the track sees Wauters digging deep into his Montevideo roots; reconnecting with his hometown’s rhythms not as a nostalgic return, but as a thoughtful reimagining of place and identity.
Built on the pulse of milongón—a slower, more meditative variant of candombe—the single weaves Afro-Uruguayan percussion patterns with soft electronic textures, creating a hypnotic soundscape that feels like cruising through familiar streets blurred by time.
It’s reflective, simmering rather than soaring, with Wauters’ understated vocals offering a kind of intimate cartography. The result is a track that pays homage to Montevideo’s musical past while reinterpreting it and crafting something quietly radical in its restraint.
The accompanying music video, co-directed by Lucía Garibaldi and collaborators, turns this introspective track into a surreal urban parable. A man purchases a car with an envelope of cash, drives through weathered neighborhoods, and reconnects with a friend before launching into a bike-stealing spree in an upscale area.
From Jackson Heights to a spontaneous street parade, the video unfolds like a dream tinged with humor, melancholy, and mischief. It’s a cinematic meditation on migration, dislocation, and the strange poetry of survival, where memory becomes resistance, and celebration is an act of reclamation.
Recorded entirely in Montevideo, MVD LUV is Wauters’ most personal and place-focused project to date. The album weaves together the local sonic textures: candombe, murga, and ambient street sounds, turning the city into both backdrop and a living collaborator. From rooftops to sidewalks, each element builds a vivid portrait of the place that shaped him.
The latest single “Manejando Por Pando” captures the heart of that journey. It offers a clear glimpse into the album’s spirit and signals what listeners can expect from a project rooted in memory, movement, and home.
Connect with Juan Wauters: Instagram | Stream the single below!
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