Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - De Facto

One thing I might not have noticed on my first listen had I not known already is that Mexican band Lorelle Meets The Obsolete's fifth album is sung entirely in Spanish. Lorena Quintinilla/Lorelle's vocals are typically half-whispered and placed low in the mix, so I have trouble understanding what she's singing anyway. This particular creative decision is a pointed response to the clusterfuck at the border. I don't speak Spanish, but "La Maga" doesn't need a translation.

2016's Balance introduced more streamlined songwriting to the band's palette; as in the past, and particularly on that album, elements of the band's songs are familiar, even radio-ready, but are used as springboards for songs with less conventional payoff. "Líneas En Hojas"'s bass line evokes "Billie Jean", but it's more of a trance than a floor-filler. "Resistir"'s chords would be at home as the intro to a garage rock song, but the song never progresses beyond them, instead gradually adding sound to ramp up the drama. De Facto walks a fine line, relatively immediate in its appeal without filing down the band's edges to the extent that it could be reasonably described as their "pop" album. It is both their strongest album melodically and their most abstract.