by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
With Tormentas Malsanas, the long awaited second album from Miami’s Las Nubes, just around the corner, the duo are cranking things up a bit. Due out on June 14th via Sweat Records Records (US), Spinda Records (EU), and Godless America Records, the band’s blend of heavy riffs, dreamy melodies, and songs that feel massive on first impression shines throughout the album. The multilingual duo of Ale Campos and Emile Milgrim craft their songs with heaps of fuzz and swooning harmonies, at times dissonant but almost always rooted in impossible to forget hooks and breezy distortion. Five years after their debut, Tormentas Malsanas cements the band’s confidence and muscle, a blisteringly sure-footed dose of alternative rock for the airwaves and beyond.
After sharing early singles “Endrados," "Drop-In," and “Would Be,” the band return with the veritable wrecking ball of “Pesada,” perhaps their heaviest song to date. Ringing low-end and bright melodies recall both hometown heroes Torche as well as the great Tweak Bird, as Campos and Milgrim dig deep into the perma-stoned core with a riff equal parts doom-soaked yet melodically syrupy. Built on a slow and steady tempo that lets the song’s groove ride, the band’s duel vocals swirl like a double helix around the sludge with a glorious juxtaposition. It’s a ripper of the highest variety. The video, directed by Mariana Mendoza, finds the band in corpse paint, spending a casual afternoon in the backyard.
Speaking about the song, Campos shared:
“During the time of George Floyd’s murder, I noticed several people who I followed online were posting non-stop about topics surrounding racial injustice in the U.S.. What I found strange was that they would share infographics written by other people instead of forming their own opinions, while also demonizing those who didn’t post as much as them. Additionally, when I would go to protests, I expected to see them all there but when the time came none of them showed. “Pesada” is about performative activism and the convenience of sitting at home and clicking “add to story” - how the delusion created by attention makes you think you’re absolved from being labeled as a bad character.”
Check out the previous singles while you’re at it: