Album Review: Angelica Garcia - 'Cha Cha Palace'
Taking her Mexican and Salvadoran roots and combining their infectious sounds with the cool riffs of rock on her sophomore album ‘Cha Cha Palace’, Angelica Garcia is setting the tone for a new kind of sonic identity.
The Latin influences on ‘Cha Cha Palace’ are hard to miss, whether it’s ‘Jicama’ with its passionate message about having a dual identity or ‘La Enorme Distance’ that features vocals from Angelica’s abuela – every inch of this album radiates love and appreciation for a culture that transcends a single place or country. It’s an album that speaks to “anyone who feels like they are in-between two identities and their heart is in two places”, an album that, more than anything, is trying to define home.
But it’s not just this nod to her roots that makes ‘Cha Cha Palace’ irresistible, it’s the way it plays with different genres and combines them so effortlessly. ‘Don’t Hinder Me’ – an ode to Angelica’s hometown - unites fuzzy guitar-led Rock with catchy pop influences while ‘Agua de Rosa’ quite simply marries two languages and creates an extraordinarily captivating piece of music.
Angelica unapologetically speaks her mind, standing up for her roots and connecting with her audience through honesty and their shared reality of being young in an age of uncertainty. Her songwriting is impressively on point with lyrics like “better not be reckless children, pride is the ultimate Achilles heel” in Reggaeton meets Dancehall anthem ‘Karma the Knife’ or “power isn't defined by your physique” in ‘Guadalupe’ – a track laced with (female) empowerment that Angelica wrote specifically „to be the voice that [she] wanted to hear“.
‘Cha Cha Palace’ as an album is no doubt one of the most promising releases of the year so far. It’s endlessly exciting - continuously reinventing its sound without losing its vision - cool and confident while giving space to vulnerability and, above all, introducing and representing Latin-American culture in a way that is passionate and proud.
Words by Laura Freyaldenhoven
LIVE DATES:
27th Jan - Brooklyn, NY - Remezcla’s Nuevo Noise at Elsewhere Zone One w/ Loyal Lobos
26th February - San Francisco, CA - Noise Pop Festival, Great American Music Hall w/ Helado Negro
16th March -22nd March - Austin, TX - SXSW Music Festival
2nd May – Leeds, Live At Leeds
13th May – 16th May – Brighton, The Great Escape