26/01/2008

new album Serpentina "Planeando en tu azotea"

This year has just begun and Elefant Records has the pleasure to release one of the most awaited albums of independent national pop. The new album of the Valencian group, SERPENTINA, is made up of two siblings, Paco and María Tamarit, with the title “Planeando en tu Azotea.” Both of them are members of the conservatory and Paco, who is in charge of composing and creating the beautiful arrangements of the songs, has collaborated in the past few years with numerous bands from this region and he also produced the debut album of CORAZÓN. In this album, we find 12 new hits of luminous and charming pop, with the advance of the video of “Querido Miedo,” which is notably the return of the band after a magnificent debut album “Blancamañana” (2004) released on the small independent label from Barcelona, Annika Records. If the first album was well received by the press, appearing on the “Best Of” lists of the prestigious magazine, Rockdelux, this new album is sure to bring about good vibes.

"Planeando en tu Azotea" is a cd, musically speaking, more luminous, direct and immediate, perhaps less Baroque than their last album, with the majority of songs hardly going over two minutes of duration, following the norms of classical pop. As always, in the proposal of the Tamarit siblings, we find references to popular music across the decades, from easy listening (Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini, Antón García Abril, Esquivel, Augusto Algueró), soft pop (Margo Guryan, LOVE GENERATION, OCTOBER COUNTRY, CHAD AND JEREMY, HARPERS BIZARRE), folk pop (THE GENTLE SOUL, PETER PAUL AND MARY, THE SEEKERS), bossanova pop (Claudine Longet, Chris Montez), psychedelic pop (THE BEATLES, Syd Barret, SAGITTARIUS) even French pop (Coralie Clément, Françoise Hardy, Marie Laforêt), melodic Italian pop (Pino Donaggio, Fabrizio De André) and above all, Spanish pop from the 60’s and 70’s (VAINICA DOBLE, SOLERA, JOSÉ Y MANUEL, NUEVOS HORIZONTES, Cecilia). Moreover, the new work catches glimpses of soundtracks by Danny Elfman and the music of Él Records (Louis Philippe), passing over North American bands from the 90’s such as THE LEGENDARY JIM RUIZ GROUP and Scandinavian pop (early CARDIGANS, CLOUDBERRY JAM, SUPER). Therefore, in songs like “El Universo” or “Ven, Siéntate” we can delight in pop from the sixties, while in songs like “Yo que Hago Aquí” we taste the folkier aromas. “Tan Fácil” is delicious soft pop and “Dos o Tres Meses” and “Querido Miedo” are samples of the best Swedish pop. On the Baroque and cinematographic sides, we have “No Sé Por Qué” and “Mañana,” songs which introduce us to an ambitious group with a proposal completely original, one that distinguishes this band from the other musical artists of this country.
 
One of the other surprises we have on this new album is the greater presence of the wonderful voice of María Tamarit, who sings on the majority of the songs, creating gorgeous vocal harmonies accompanied by her brother, Paco. What is even better is that, as usual, there are beautiful lyrics. In their new work, the lyrics focus mostly on the bittersweet taste of relationships. María sings, "déjame gritar que no puedo estar sin ti / sólo quiero hacer el ridículo por ti", in the song "Festival,” while in the song "Dos o Tres Meses" the heart is worn on the sleeve with the sincere sharpness of pain affirming "necesito que desaparezcas un tiempo / dos o tres meses serán suficientes / para que el espacio que ocupas en mi corazón / se reduzca y se vuelva cero, como los dos deseamos / como los dos nos merecemos.” There is also a gala of exquisite irony,which in many cases remind us of Carmen Santonja and Gloria Van Aerssen of VAINICA DOBLE. For example, in "Cambio de Vida" they sing "si le dejaran retroceder compraría un Larousse y a leer / para entender la música de John Cage / para aprender todo lo que hay que saber".
 
In brief, "Planeando en tu Azotea" is a summer breeze of pop songs for short and elegant, while distinguished, melody lovers, packed with dreamy voices and crystal clear instrumentation. A few drops of bitter liquor which help to mitigate the placid sweetness are suggested while listening to this gem.

Serpentina [Paco and Mar?a Tamarit]
picture: Jes?s Hern?ndez