El Hijo - Las Otras Vidas

Album solowego projektu wokalisty zespołu Migala - jednej z najważniejszych grup indie-rocka w Hiszpanii.

Tracklist:
1. Saturnalia  //  2. 1000 cometas  // 3. Los reyes que traigo //  4. Vals de los besos  // 5. Conmigo a tu vera  //  6. Bosques son // 7. Mirando atrás // 8. En medio del llano  // 9. Cabalgar 

El Hijo ("The Son") is Abel Hernández, whose sheltering voice used to appear on Migala, possibly the best Spanish indie band of the last 10 years. Now, after a couple of EPs Abel has written nine notes full of folk, country and pop sung in Spanish that thrive in a personal songwriting coming from both his emotional and musical roots. Las otras vidas (The other lives) is an enchanted tapestry where knights ride miles of moor to know who they are, where love is finally gonna be fruitful and the
horizon seems to be moving further away. Far from Migala's dregs of American tradition or instrumental post-rock, El Hijo is a glance at the gone days.

Across hurled paint, slanted clothes, forgotten tales. Abel Hernández swims through a sea of ink and reflected lamp light at the daybreak. Time has told him magic pours from what's left when we keep our eyes closed. The end of Migala woke Abel up again. The band he was singing and playing guitar in for almost a decade was over, and now, he had room for his deepest secrets, time to take his own opportunities and make his own decisions. 'Cause that's what El Hijo is all about: Abel making his own
decisions. He now sings with a little help from his friends, including Raül 'Refree' Fernandez as a producer and musician, Kieran Stephen (ex-Migala, ex-Los PLanetas) on bass and Xavier Molero on drums. La piel del oso were El Hijo's first five songs. Like light floating on air, words entered a world of images, covered by a sculpture of string and brass. Last year saw the release of Canciones gringas, a collection of Spanish sung versions of American all-time-classics previously inked by Jackson Browne, Michasel Penn, Jackson C. Frank and Bob Dylan. Although both title and song selection showed reverence to certain musicians and models of North American rooted folk-rock highlighting the value of these four songs was intimately bound to the exhilarating narration/interpretation game and the final result was as complimentary as innovative.

Now, beneath the rain, in loneliness, Las otras vidas is a diary bearing portraits out. Portraits of stolen memories, an obituary of delicate dreams. "Saturnalia" opens the album like an arson. As it burns, it swallows coaches, palaces and slaves. The Mighty Old Europe. Abel sings over a dash of guitar and keys, evoking the grace of other time, with a handful of faces. Faces he met while writing, those lives Las otras vidas refers to. Hiding in hotel rooms, where forests grow. Holding each other's hands, those characters fill this songs. Avoiding epic, Abel and the rest of the band play in such a stylish, timeless, way that sounds nearly like seventies classic pop -from Roy Orbison to Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed to Johnny Cash, Franco Battiato to the Chico Buarque of Construçao- prepared with not many ingredients. These songs breathe medieval glory, a story of lost and wind. Like children walking through forests in fairy tales, teenagers devoured by confusion in b-movies,
inexperienced hikers lost in snow-covered mountains. Golden chests, rooks forged in flame. Abel Hernández bastes his debut with this gleaming signature.