5 out of 5

Label: Discos Mascarpone

Produced by: Pablo Peiró (recorded by)

Sometimes the trouble with writing a review is wondering: what am I missing? If this album is great, why does the internet not confirm my findings? If my tastes are “right” – and I think we can all agree they are – how is Cuello’s Mi Brazo Que Te Sobre not a universally celebrated piece of rock/pop mastery?

I first questioned if the language barrier was maybe making me overlook something: if this was sung in my native language, or a language I otherwise understood, would I take issue with it? It’s very possible; a quick translation suggests that there’s a lot of relationship focus here, and maybe that subject matter would feel pretty limited, or I’d be bothered by the themes / phrasings. … I’m allowing my mono-language blinders to grant some leeway here, as it feels wrong to outright judge a translation which A. may be off and B. cannot teach me cultural context; even translated, there are some interesting choices in metaphor, but more importantly, what has stuck out to me from the start: ___ sings with all his heart, and puts a lot of melody into that and that makes even tracks where the lyrics are pretty repetitive impactful, as the vocals add this emotional and extra musical layer atop the rock goodness. “Musical” not necessarily in a tuneful sense – this is Baboon-esque shout singing, with lots of gang vocals – moreso that __ doesn’t just shout along to the guitar lines, or stay in that range, often changing up pace and tone in a way that can run counter to the rhythm section. It’s a fully fleshed out sound, and completely exhilarating.

That crossed off, what are we to make of the relative “simplicity” of the album? I think only one song has anything approaching a solo; the rest could reasonably be called a collection of riffs. But when every song hits home – without repeating one of those riffs – maybe the measure shouldn’t be about simplicity. Furthermore, those with actual ears and have listened to this have likely already zeroed in on my error, that there’s nothing simple about this: Cuello layer on quite of bit of intersecting guitar and bass lines (similar to the way the vocals aren’t just following the most direct melody), which stacks their GBV workman rock with a density and intensity that, if not for how inherently catchy the tunes are, would broach noise, with Who-vian levels of bombast that reveal themselves the more you listen.

And in case this is just sounding like a stream of loud hits – not bad, but maybe that’s a bit all-hands-on for 11 tracks – Mi Brazo Que Te Sobre is incredibly smartly sequenced, giving us a first half of relatively more streamlined shout-alongs, before mid-album Visado de Reina slows things down, milking the same level of emotion from a march-like pace. Thereafter, the album picks back up, but the approach has shifted more towards a Thermals-y indie looseness.

Bear in mind that all of my references are background: I had a lot of niggling “who does this remind me of?” thoughts throughout my listen, but at no point did Cuello sound derivative. They own their sound, and I’ve run out of ways to try to pick that apart. It’s a fantastic listen.