5 out of 5

Label: Araki

Produced by: Murina and Daniel Gil

In perfect doses, Murina bring us all the good times of 90s indie and grunge – some Helmet, some Toadies, some Hole, some Sonic Youth – and whip it up into something timeless, and direct. Expanded from a bass / drums duo on some prior EPs to a +guitar band trio for Nueva Froma de Vida, singer Martina de Lugnani growls at us like Christina Michelle on the earlier Gouge Away material, but balances that out with some classic alt-rock melodies, flipping between the styles not only effortlessly, but in the precise quantities to allow the tracks to be both poppy and hardcore at the same time. It is an absolute feat.

Lyrically, my thoughts kept floating back to Le Butcherettes, because I’ve been listening to them recently: there are definitely some shared themes of female empowerment here – admittedly Lugnani is more just openly critical of society in general – but whereas Teri Gender Bender (whose narratives I appreciate) couches things in some allegory, or uses a framework, Lugnani boils the emotions down to simple but powerful messages. Both work, of course, but I do bias towards Murina’s approach: it’s more flexible, and just as a short story can be harder than a longer one in some ways, getting the full scope across in less pages, I think the way Martina can cue me into a song’s theme in a few words or the chorus is impressive, without it falling into wholly simplistic “girls are badass” / “people suck” shouty stuff.

Amongst recent listens, I also had In Lieu in mind, alongside the aforementioned Gouge Away; I dig the material from those bands quite a bit, but Nueva Forma bested their recent efforts from 2024 / 2025: In Lieu’s members skew younger, I think, and they’re pushing for a very heavy sound – like early GA, I suppose – which somewhat limits the reach of the album. GA have struggled in the opposite direction, trying to mature outward into the grunge of their namesake, and I’m not sure the shoe always fits. Murina, by keeping pop a clear element in their music, it’s not a distraction or surprise when they veer (temporarily) quiet, as on Lovelong, or to whip out some shoegaze on closer Koti. They use these variations in those perfect doses I started out mentioning, also taking advantage of sequencing to lead us on a garden path of headbanging and toe-tapping and brief pauses so that we can fully appreciate the slow down that Koti offers.

I have replayed this album so much in the short time I’ve owned it.