Rodrigo Domínguez is one of those musicians we've always seen in good company over the past few years. It would be too long to list the musicians he's played with, all relevant in the Argentine instrumental music scene (not to mention jazz, a somewhat debatable label at this point). We assumed or hoped, after the beautiful and subtle "Soy sauce," that Rodrigo would deliver even more by tackling his own themes because we sensed that he was maturing a very personal way of approaching melodic and harmonic materials, even if some inevitable influences could sneak in here and there, like distant reminiscences. "Presencia" confirms those assumptions. It's an album that in just over 50 minutes addresses eight very different themes. From the (relatively) simple and playful "Mañanero," which opens the album, we see an obsession with singing on every instrument. Often the guitar doubles the saxophone in the written melodic parts; then in Rodrigo's solos, it functions as a harmonic base throwing chords of incredible sound, which seem to imitate the voicings of a Hammond due to the complexity and the slightly metallic timbre that Juan Pablo Arredondo achieves in the attacks of his guitar. Sometimes, he also alternates small, brief, and discreet melodic phrases in the background. Even in the silences of his instrument, the guitarist seems to be in constant activity. Then he stands out in the solos: Arredondo is a fantastic improviser, a specialist. We recommend, for example, his solo in "Henri," which finally converges into the melody, quite out of the ordinary, with the saxophone.