Fire Away!
Diego Solorzano is really sexy. With his black slicked-back hair, his leather jackets and his dark sunglasses, he is a perfect match for the voice you hear on Rey Pila albums: low, spooky, shaky but sometimes a little sensitive. Born in Mexico City, the frontman for the synth rock group and his bandmates Andres Velasco, Rodrigo Blanco and Miguel Hernandez now have roots in NYC where they recorded both their records, the latest being The Future Sugar, produced by Chris Coady (Wavves, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) released on Cult Records (founded by the Strokes’ frontman Julian Casablancas). Unlike debut album Rey Pila, which alternates between English and Spanish lyrics, The Future Sugar is entirely in English.
“Fire Away” opens the album and immediately gets heads nodding with its simple yet catchy consistent synth beat. You’ll hear these catchy beats all over the place, making it hard for the album to become altogether boring with its unique ’80s-esque synth beats, but sometimes they can sound too calculated and simple, making it hard to easily distinguish which song is which.
Solorzano does a fine job of keeping it versatile vocally between his low tenor in most tracks, particularly in the slow dramatic track “White Night,” to high pitches in others, like on final track “What A Nice Surprise.” Lyrically he isn’t quite as happy as the uppity synth beats (as heard on “Nerds:” Every time I go to bed, all the things I hate come out”), but the lyrics are often a little too general to read into.
There’s plenty on The Future Sugar to pick from if you’re trying to find something hip and slightly obscure for your dance party playlists. And of course it will always be worth it to see them live as long as they continue being super sexy Latino musicians.
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