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Estatuas De Sol are the latest electronic act to come out of Spain of late follwing names such as Allied Vision and Culture Kultur. It's good to see that electronic music is spreading around the world, especially when they bring something of their cultural heritage with them as in the case of "Lucha" where the traditional accoustic guitar in unison with the ever present Spanish vocals makes for a very Latin feel. Very few bands seem willing to do this, prefering instead to opt for a more generic synthpop sound and I guess it's not of mega importance overall but it's nice to see a band bringing something of their national identity into modern electronic music. This album (which is available in the USA through A Different Drum) is definately one for the more progressive synthpoppers amongst you as the trio of Fernando Martin, Zigor Lopez and Alfonso Crespo have put together a collection of synthetic pop which shows that, within it's easily accessable style, they're prepared to take a few chances with their music, such as the heart machine going terminal at the end of the dynamic "El Mundo A Tues Pies" or the fast moving electronica/trance-like "Tanz Trance", an approach that, for me, is a real plus. Only the latter stages of "Caer" prove a bit too MOR-like than is desirable but, as a rule, the band show themselves easily able to inject a few more adventurous touches into their music whilst keeping proceedings firmly in easily accessable realms.
Any 80s influences are pretty well hidden as the songs as a whole and the rhythms in particular show them leaning more towards modern electronica styles on tracks such as "Otros Tiempos" and "Si Yo No Estoy" which adds a good dose of 'oomph' to proceedings, as well Likewise the guitar work that graces "Los Versos Del Juglar" means it sounds like it wants to be a rock track but doesn't quite manage it. Such variable tempi is another plus with the bouncey and commercial "Ciudades" or the harder hitting closer "Anitithesis" (which is labelled as track 12+1 rather than 13, they're obviously very supersitious!!) being countered by the slow ballads "Sin Destino" and "Hojas Secas Caeran" which also boasts massed vocals and some excellent piano work.
Whilst it would be pushing it too far to call this album innovative Estatuas De Sol have obviously given a great deal of thought to how they want their music to sound and have, on this release, found a style that they can call their own.
RATING: 7
Artist Link: http://www.estatuasdesol.com
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