The Zaragozaans Juan Figols and Mario Lázaro, Fresh and Mango respectively, have been resonating in our recent musical memory for so long with themes of infectious effect and media virality that it is particularly strange to be talking about them now in terms of debutants. But so it is, after more than five years effectively renewing the foundations of urban pop and indie, thus leading a generation completely alien to categories and genres, the duo has left their fears behind and formally presents itself in society with “What killed me” (Sonido Muchacho/BMG, 24), his first full-length and the cherry on top of a meteoric start to his career.
Faithful to their ambitious methodology in which everything fits, Juan and Marío have not missed the opportunity to build under the same product a sparse and disparate discourse that responds and does justice to all those sound concerns that they have been exhibiting over the years. . For this reason, the delivery of a work with multiple signatures in the production (names such as detunedfreq, Juan Pedrayes and Kim Fanlo intervene in its definition) seems completely pertinent and coherent to us with respect to its motto, always eager to not limit itself in his identity.
Without the notoriety and glory of topics like “Send me an Audio” suppose a slab that shadows its continuity, Fresh and Mango They now concoct an assortment of heartbroken and heartfelt songs in which once again their zeta language, open and unstitched, energizes the drama and sweetens the spirit with that radiant and carefree tone of theirs that serves as glue for thirteen songs of fleeting listening and surprising cohesion.
Its contagious energy flows from the very “INTRO”, in which the line that divides hyper-pop from pop-punk is completely blurred, giving rise to an incandescent love anthem that establishes the narrative tone of the album. Its instrumental body, completely divergent and jumbled, will be another story, because with skill and impudence the couple saturates the speakers with pure riff (“I THINK SOMETHING IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN”), soothes the soul with syrupy acoustic tones (“ORANGE SUN”), increases the revs with the most mechanical treble (“LIKE AN OPEN SIGN ON THE STREET”) and illuminates the room with the most impetuous Latin (“MONDAY FACE”), in order to provide a restless and rebellious whole that no brave man will dare to confine into a single label. A stylistic nonconformity that many will call irresponsible or sick, but that seems to be the ideal backdrop for the duo to experiment, scratch their nostalgia and move us without leaving anything inside (“WHEEL”).
The future projection of the duo seems to be assured thanks to their now corroborated ability to continue creating fervent songs and more mature lyrics, capable of renewing the vows of their past firecrackers and thus dignifying the music scene of their generation. We don’t need to know exactly what kind of music they make to make it ours, and that gift already grants them a set and match that many of their contemporaries would like to have.