After a “Insect” (22) dark and industrial, from come back with “Model to assemble”an experimental and dreamlike second album that rides on ambitious eclecticism.
Fernando Romero, better known by his alias from, is a rare bird on the national scene. Within the experimental field, he decides to continue defending the classic bass-keyboard-drums-guitar-voice formation, semi-analog recording, powerful production and ornamental arrangements. No autotune, no ambient, no hyperpop, no noise, and even so, it would be a mistake to label it “alternative rock.” If we compare it with other contemporary bands, we discover that it is one of the few artists who challenges the limits of genres to satisfy all its stylistic concerns, so considering it classic or traditional would be nonsense.
In this “Model to assemble” of eleven songs that do not exceed three minutes, from immerses the listener in a universe full of delays, textures, layers and melodies that are sinister and sweet at the same time. It is a unique cocktail of musical genres, in which the artist seems to have left behind his initiatory jazz sound to make room for a rhythmic post-punk, some slowcore that ends up transforming into bedroom pop and a certain flirtation with psychedelic flamenco. .
With the song that opens the album “My eyes are falling out”, from welcomes us to a dreamlike and misty universe (a la Cabinet of Doctor Caligari), with a much more polished production than that of his previous works. On this occasion, the synthesizers and delay effects on the voice cloud the songs, and the return to acoustic drums consolidates and unifies the repertoire. Not to mention that aggravating and persistent bass, which slides like a snake seducing the listener with its undulating movements (“Electromotive” o “What can you offer me?”).
The album grows with a constant feeling of renewal and freshness, and for those nostalgic for the artist’s initiatory sound, it is reserved “I prefer to stay”, song that recovers that endearing and DIY production of the debutants “Autumn” o “Last summer”.
Beyond the stylistic transition, the production and the thousand and one images it raises, “Model to assemble” stands out for a certain loss of naivety, since in the honest lyrics and the dark sound horizons, we discover a somewhat more tormented musician, who sings of heartbreak, of passing trains, of the discomfort of a hostile new city and the tranquility of friends who, despite the passage of time and the thousand and one circumstances of life, seem to continue to be there. That anguishing Kafkaesque cry of “Insect” now mutates into a Cortazarian existentialism that gives the artist a certain maturity, both musical and vital.
With the delicate and heartbreaking ending of “Whenever the train passes”Fernando Romero closes this ghostly and industrial novel by offering the public a timeless, risky and eclectic album that will differentiate itself from its contemporaries by marking a personal and convincing direction.