Argentine composer, bassist, and ethnomusicologist Laura Camacho has earned praise from Grammy Award-winning bassist Pablo Aslan as "one of the movers and shakers in the US tango scene", and Todo Tiempo Pasado, released in late 2025 under her group Laura Camacho Tango Project, makes clear why. Now based in Austin while pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Texas, Camacho is an artist who carries tango's history in her bones while refusing to be confined by it. Featuring Latin GRAMMY® nominated pianists Emiliano Messiez and Ariel Pirotti, this 10-track release demonstrates that tango, in the right hands, remains one of the world's most restlessly inventive musical forms.

The album ranges freely across folk, classical, jazz, pop, and contemporary tango, each track arriving on its own terms. Camacho’s original works, the passionate title track and the introspective "ECOS", sit alongside classic pieces by Astor Piazzolla and Mariano Mores. The ensemble is richly appointed throughout, with bandoneon players Natsuki Nishihara, Shinjoo Cho, Charles Olivier, and Jorge Donadio providing the genre's essential heartbeat across various tracks, while violinists John Cooper, Lucas Scalamogna, Sergio R. Reyes, Christine Brebes, and violist Elizabeth Ridolfi add warmth and lyricism to the arrangements. 

Pirotti's own "Tifón" is a standout: a classically conceived, deeply atmospheric composition that channels the spirit of Piazzolla while carving out its own shadowy, distinctive presence. No less arresting is "Milonga Triste," where Camacho's commanding bass lines are beautifully complemented by Osvaldo Tubino's richly toned classical guitar, the two instruments drawing a mood of deep, unhurried melancholy from a tango standard. Equally striking are the reimagining of Britney Spears' "Toxic", brilliantly arranged by Messiez, and Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill." The Kate Bush track is a genuine surprise: rather than the brooding, dramatic treatment one might expect, Camacho sets it to a milonga rhythm, giving the song a lilting, almost playful momentum that reframes it entirely. Catherine Goodrum's electric guitar weaves in between the milonga passages, its tone providing a quietly unexpected contrast that somehow feels entirely at home in the arrangement. Together these choices speak to just how broad tango's expressive vocabulary truly is. The closing "Libertango" even brings in tenor and baritone saxophones, played by John James and Marc Gilley, adding a smoky, jazz swagger to Piazzolla's most iconic composition.

Camacho's ensemble balances these varied textures with a sure hand, producing music that is at once richly layered and emotionally direct, tango that breathes, bends, and endures. (Joe Ross and Zach Fernandes)