Spanish Love Songs evaluation – No Joy buries heavy themes in triumphant melodies
Hot on the heels of the wonderful sampler for this file, the Marvel EP, which accommodates the titular monitor plus Pendulum, Clean Up Crew and Haunted comes Spanish Love Songs’ fourth studio album: No Joy.
Containing all of the aforementioned tracks plus a further eight, this can be a positive evolution from 2020’s Brave Faces Everyone.
I at all times get particular shades of early Manic Street Preachers from this group, combined with flavours of The Airbourne Toxic Event – and that’s very a lot nonetheless the case right here.
Lead singer Dylan Slocum’s vocal supply has greater than a touch of James Dean Bradfield in it, though – at occasions – is paying homage to Talking Heads’ David Byrne. If they’d a vocal love little one, he’s it.
What is outstanding about this band is the juxtaposition between their music and lyrics.
No Joy is deceptively deep. Tracks that sound like absolute floor-filler bangers are hiding deep, existential crises.
Opening monitor Lifers Slocum croons: “So do you think you will outride it?” One should assume that “it” is life.
On Pendulum, he laments: “We might get what we want / but what good will that do?” Something I’m certain we have now all requested ourselves.
Meanwhile, the deceptively upbeat Haunted has him singing: “There’s another body in the McDonald’s parking lot / you start to worry that’s what you will look like when it catches up with you.”
While the lyrics and vocals reduce via the listener, the music’s foundations are very protected within the palms of drummer Ruben Darte, lead guitarist Kyle McAulay, bassist Trevor Dietrich and Slocum’s spouse Meredith Van Woert, who contributes keyboards and acoustic guitar.
This group are tight and performs like a gaggle who’ve been collectively all their lives moderately than a mere decade (which, actually, is nothing by way of the music business).
These are the type of songs that beg to be performed reside. They are waxed woes about life, and anthems tackling the human situation. Both of those can solely be elevated by tons of of individuals singing them in excellent unison.
No Joy is a surprisingly advanced providing that calls for a number of listens. This is the type of album that breaks bands from intimate venues to correct arenas.
Their upcoming tour with Hot Mulligan sees them play considerably bigger venues than up to now, however on the again of this album (no offence to Hot Mulligan) individuals could begin questioning who the precise headline act is.
Spanish Love Songs have undoubtedly discovered their ft and their sound – and as soon as they’ll keep this sort of songwriting momentum the one manner is up. Listen to this album on repeat and thank me later.