The Catalan urban scene continues to grow by leaps and bounds, as perfectly shown in “La Calçotada”the second studio album by Figa Flawas. The Valls duo presents us with a work of twenty songs in which they have immersed themselves in all possible rhythms, showing that their hallmark is just that: not having a fixed style. At first glance, it may seem like a very long album that does not make logical sense, but you have to delve into it to realize all the virtues it hides.
It is an album that meets the expectations that had been generated around them, since in this last year they have reached a large audience thanks to hits like “kiss” o “Devil”, which have added added pressure to their music. In this work we find just all those songs that have made them better known in the Catalan musical scene, but also with great rarities, those that they love to do since their beginnings.
That’s why it’s not surprising that they sample “Al wind” by Raimon in “It’s come”, the most hip-hop cut of the entire album in which they talk about their career, including their part as independent artists, and the dark part of the industry. Intentionally, it is placed just before “kiss”, their most radio-friendly hit, to show that they can also make anyone like their music. But it’s not just that they show that they know how to rap, but they also jump into salsa in the song that opens the album, accompanied by great musicians including the Horny Session group, and they get into a corrido lying on “Aurora”. An amalgamation of rhythms and styles that, far from colliding, make them identifiable more clearly than ever as what they are, chameleonic artists.
And they have done everything under the concept of Calçotada, that traditional Catalan festival, born in their native Valls. That is the answer to the large number of styles that we find since, like in any party that lasts an entire day, different moods go through, from maximum exaltation to “Xtratarrestres”, until the moment of most present decline in “Let it not end” o “I was wrong”, and the end, with its consequent collection, in the nostalgic “The vermutillu”an acoustic cut in which we are invited to plan the next party to start it as soon as possible.
What is most surprising about this album is how little they have followed the canons established for an album today. They have released twenty songs on a single album, with only 4 features (Mushkaa, Alba Armengou, Pol Bordas, Compte and Lluís Gavaldà) and in which their first signing action has not been in any large sales center, it has been in the square of his town, Valls. The Figa Flawas They have their feet firmly on the ground and it seems that, thanks to this, and their great musical wealth, they are going to be one of the great kings of the Catalan festivals of the next decade.