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Album of the month : February 2001

 

 

Migala (E) : " Arde "

( Acuarela )

 

A third album is always a milestone in a band's career. After having successfully achieved the reputedly "difficult" second album (" Asi duele un verano", 1999), Madrid-based combo MIGALA has managed to keep the same high level of quality on their following output. Greeted by unanimous critical acclaim, « Arde » brilliantly confirms what we already guessed right from the start : MIGALA is here to stay !

Often compared to such artists as WILL OLDHAM, LEONARD COHEN or THE TINDERSTICKS, this bunch of self-proclaimed "non-musicians" blends together these well-assumed influences, adding to them their personal touch to produce a music which is now definitely their own : folk-rock ballads with a continental flavour built on a rustic framework of guitars and accordion, the disgruntled tone and words of Abel Hernández, not forgetting the band's trademark, those well-chosen found sounds and samples closely mixed to the music ( a particularly successful effect here on songs like Times of disaster or The Guilt ).

Unfortunately, words fail to properly render the impressionist music of MIGALA. It's much more a question of sensations. Like when you haven't slept for a long time and you enter this semi-conscious state : you're numbed with exhaustion, yet you feel ultra-sensitive at the same time, with all your senses wide-awake. A paradox among many others from these guys who play quietly to make themselves heard, go slowly to reach farther places, and reveal a sweet despair which, in the end, makes you feel better.

If "Asi duele un verano" was more or less MIGALA's "maritime" album, "Arde", as its title ("On fire") suggests, deals with combustion : a slow-burning fire that insidiously reduces everything to ashes. It's not an end though, just a necessary and radical cleaning before a new start. On these ashes MIGALA have yet to grow their most beautiful flowers.

We'll wait, confidently.

 


acuarela@acuareladiscos.com

http://www.acuareladiscos.com

 

migalanet@yahoo.com

http://www.fast.to/migala

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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