María – Breve Cielo

This is the second EP and second release of 2016 from María (aka maría es un extraño), an indie/emo band from Buenos Aires, Argentina, a place with a long and rich history in punk, with many emotional and passionate bands. What do the young people of Buenos Aires have for us?

It starts with “Tres Cosas Color Rosa” (Three Pink Colored Things), a song with clear and pure guitars, sometimes with modulation effects like chorus or flanger. The melodies are centered around the rhythmic bass and of course the soft but very present voice. It’s all very sweet and calm, but with a strong vibe of melancholy that makes me think of bands from K Records and Sarah Records. And that’s a good thing, because they use their influences well and consistently.

The lyrics are often personal, about everyday life and human relationships. About simple things. About getting on with life or forgetting. It’s all introspective. Because yeah, as people involved in different punk scenes, we want to get angry and talk about things that affect us, but we also need to know ourselves. We are not just angry robots, we feel. So speak up. Or better, listen. Understand, think. We get a little bit of that in this EP, which is also fun to listen to, and it’s a little bit better produced than their first one, which was okay, by the way. Especially the voice.