Connect with us

No1 Music Blog News

MALENA ZAVALA ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM ‘LA YARARÁ’

MALENA ZAVALA ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM ‘LA YARARÁ’
TO B..

Published

on

MALENA ZAVALA ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM ‘LA YARARÁ’
TO BE RELEASED APRIL 17 ON YUCATAN RECORDS
SHARES NEW SINGLE ‘I’M LEAVING HOME’
Listen HERE / Smartlink HERE / Press Assets HERE

Following up one of the last years most underrated albums, Aliso, the UK-raised Argentinean switches up to salsa shimmy for her new Spanish-language single
The Guardian

Malena Zavala has today released new singleI’m Leaving Home’, and details of her second album, ‘La Yarará’, to be released April 17 on Yucatan Records. Zavala will follow the release with a headline show at London’s Courtyard Theatre on April 23.

The follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2018 debut ‘Aliso’, ‘La Yarará’ cements Zavala as a new Anglo-Latin talent, with a unique songwriting perspective on where she’s from, where she’s headed and where her music can take us.
When you’re born in Argentina to parents with Italian passports, then grow up from a young age in Hertfordshire, it’s easy to feel like an outsider. Who are you? Where are you from? What do you sound like? Spanish language, Latin culture, Home Counties – which is the most you? With the gloriously rich and transporting ‘La Yarará’, Malena Zavala has come home. A beautifully-wrought love letter to the culture in her DNA, its ten songs are vivid, vital hymns to the various aspects, colours and shades of Latin music and culture: cumbia, reggaeton, Afro-Cuban, Afro-funk, Andean folk, Argentine folk, bolero-son. And all sung, in a mixture of Spanish and English, in Zavala’s passport-to-paradise voice.

“When I started making music it was more about expressing my emotions, and learning to write and produce music myself,” she explains. “With my first album Aliso, I had to get something off my chest. But now with this second album, it was about exploring and overcoming my identity issues – about not knowing where I belong. That’s something I’ve felt my whole life.”
After the release of ‘Aliso’ – described as “gently warped and beguilingly melancholy guitar pop” by The Guardian in their 4 star review – Zavala toured all over Europe and the UK supporting Lord Huron, Blanco White, and Men I Trust, before hitting the festival circuit. She then spent three months writing her second album in Tarifa, the southernmost point of Spain.
Zavala and her close circle of collaborators recorded ‘La Yarará’ in two weeks last September at Urchin Studios in London Fields, with Zavala producing and Dani Bennett Spragg (Baxter Dury, The Amazons) engineering. “Urchin is a really beautiful, all wooden studio, which was really important for the sound of this album,” says Zavala. “I wanted it to feel like Buena Vista Social Club. I wanted to play the room, to feel the walls and wooden floors.”
Released in late 2019, the album’s lead single ‘En La Noche’ (‘In The Night’) is sung in Spanish, and combines traditional cumbia rhythms with lysergic guitars and a swirling ambient production style to create a beatific exploration of the role of dreams in creativity. The second single is the evocative, bluesy lament ‘I’m Leaving Home,’ which Zavala sings in English. “I don’t make a conscious choice to sing in a particular language,” she explains. “But with I’m Leaving Home, the rhythm isn’t so Latino, plus it’s about my parents and how I feel about a home, so it feels like it should be in English.”
Other stand-out tracks include the “dark Argentine hip hop” of ‘Naturaleza’ and ‘Memories Gone’, which is Mazzy Star-style gothic chamber pop with an Andean influence, plus the sinuous title track, with percussion that evokes the movements and character of a serpent. “The yarará is a venomous snake, a viper, in Argentina,” she explains of the album title. “It’s also used as a diss to a sassy woman. My parents always called me that, so I’m calling the album that as a semi-in-joke.”
At the heart of the album is ‘Identity’, a song of rootlessness and yearning “that embodies the whole record. It’s about how I feel like I don’t belong to Argentina or England. I’ve just been travelling my whole life,” says Zavala. “So the whole concept is about how, wherever you go and whatever the experiences you have in the cultures you live in, they makeup who you are and your character. So I had this idea of a person is about where they’ve been, not where they were born.”
‘I’m Leaving Home’ is out now and ‘La Yarará’ will be released on the April 17 on Yucatan Records.
PRE-ORDER HERE

Malena Zavala live:
April 23 London, The Courtyard Theatre (headline)

Malena Zavala ‘La Yarará’ track list:

  1. What If I
  2. En la Noche
  3. I’m Leaving Home
  4. La Yarará
  5. Identity
  6. Memories Gone
  7. Compay
  8. Paraná
  9. Ritmo De Vida
  10. Naturaleza

Original Article

Continue Reading

music

Scottish Band, Tom Adamson Band, and Their New Album ‘Old View of the New World’

Published

on

By

If you’re a fan of prog-rock, then you need to know all about Tom Adamson Band! Coming in hot with his latest album, ‘Old View of the New World’, which was released in December of 2022, it’s got tonnes of quality alongside inspiration from Adamson’s homeland of Scotland. A musician who has been practicing his craft for decades, mixed with the sound of prog-rock that is reminiscent of legends such as Deep Purple, you can be sure that this album is one that you cannot afford to miss.

Kicking off ‘Old View of the New World’ is the brilliant ‘Ballyhoo’, a minute and a half mood setter that is already showing a deep prog-rock similarity, delivering a Gilmour-like solo that has your attention straight away. The follow-up track, ‘See the Light’, is the first time we’re introduced to the vocals of Tom Adamson, and he does not disappoint. Suiting the feel of the music and able to build momentum, it’s another brilliant track that demonstrates everything you need to hear in a great prog-rock album, with yet more fantastic solos stealing the show. The following track, ‘Old View of the New World, solidifies the album as a real gem. Jazz influences shine for the first time with a saxophone, playing alongside the fantastic guitar riffs and drums that we’ve become accustomed to.

Moving through the album, tracks such as ‘The Black Dinner’, ‘Just Another Way to Make a Friend’, ‘Waiting for Life to Begin’ and ‘I Am Mean’ showcase everything that we loved about what we’d already heard. Impeccable vocals, fantastic prog-rock music with a unique and refreshing jazz feel that helps the music stand out each and every time. Released in the back end of December last year, this is an album that you cannot afford to miss. An overall brilliant project from a brilliant artist, ‘Old View of the New World’ is waiting for you to dive right into!

Tom Adamson Band’s Bandcamp

Tom Adamson Band’s YouTube

Tom Adamson Band’s Facebook

Tom Adamson Band’s Website

 

Continue Reading

music

Dive In to ‘Leven the Vale’, the Single and Album by Bank Street Martyrs!

Published

on

By

If you’re a fan of Steely Dan, then you’re going to love this new release from Bank Street Martyrs as they prepare for the release of their new album! Here with their latest single, ‘Leven the Vale’, the track serves as a tribute to their hometown as well as a taster for what’s to come on the album release of the same name. With a sound that casts us back to the glory days of rock music, this is a single that you need to add to your playlist right away!

Kicking ‘Leven the Vale’ off is a drumbeat that’s quickly followed up by the immense talent of lead singer, Joseph Watema, whose delicate yet powerful vocals instantly give the song a calm feel that is welcomed with open arms, while also having you on the edge of your seat. Moving through the track, we see the same fantastic drums and vocals, mixed with fantastic guitar riffs from Andrew Marsland that carry the same feeling perfectly, allowing Watema to take centre stage throughout. With composition done perfectly with music from Marsland, vocals from Watema, and lyrics by Ian Retson all on point, it’s easy to tell that this will be on repeat again and again on so many playlists. Rounded off by a guitar solo and the same brilliant vocals, it only adds to our hope that this will be an album that will exceed each and every expectation.

Released with an accompanying music video, directed by local filmmaker Harvey Smart, it adds another dimension to the track that already has a personal feeling to it, keeping it all local making the homecoming track even more poignant. Released in December, ‘Leven the Vale’ as a single and album are ready to be enjoyed – make sure that you don’t miss out on this!

Bank Street Martyrs’ Facebook

Bank Street Martyrs’ Website

Bank Street Martyrs’ YouTube

Continue Reading

music

Same Old Tale are Here with Their Latest Single, ‘Look Down’, as they Prepare for New EP

Published

on

By

On the lookout for some barnstorming rock music that will have you turning the volume up to the max? Look no further than Same Old Tale, an Israeli outfit with an undeniably good sound and a clear command of music and lyrics that will knock you off your feet. Here with their latest single, ‘Look Down’, as the band prepare for the release of their EP, ‘Tales Are Yet to Come’, listeners will get a glimpse of what’s in store from Same Old Tale! Don’t miss out on this.

Written by the lead vocalist, Maor Shem Tov, while he was on active combat duty visiting the Hermon Mountain. The idea came as he watched the people below, thinking about how they’re heading to work, seeing loved ones and living their lives, it dawned on him what he could not afford to lose. Penning lyrics and music that were born from this epiphany, the result is a truly fantastic track for its lyrics and the resonance that it has on anyone who listens and thinks deeply.

‘Look Down’ is a single that shows us what’s to come on ‘Tales Are Yet to Come’, with not only a clear approach in the music, but also in the lyrics, as they come together perfectly to create a track that will have you wanting to be a rockstar with its solos and ass-kicking drums. Shem Tov manages to balance with the music like a pro, as he matches the intensity of the music and elevate it to a whole other level with his vocals and delivery.

A genuinely fantastic rock track, it’ll appeal to a wide spectrum of those who are inspired by rock music, from metal to alt-rock, this is the song for you. ‘Look Down’ is the perfect teaser for what’s to come, promising that there will be more music on the way that follows in the footsteps in terms of quality. Make sure you get to know all about Same Old Tale and their releases, or live to regret it!

Same Old Tale’s Facebook

Same Old Tale’s Instagram

Same Old Tale’s TikTok

Same Old Tale’s YouTube

Same Old Tale’s Linktree

Continue Reading

Join Our Newsletter

Latest News

RSS url is invalid or broken

WE’RE VERY SOCIABLE

Our Radio Show

We’re Really Quite Great

Latest News