CIZAÑA DE LOS AMORES

Omar's flip flopping between dense, experimental madness and more accessible material is a trend that continues to rear its head here with Cizaña De Los Amores, and as always, I think it's a pretty cool aspect to his sound, especially when it leads to one of his most conventional album yet, more often than not bordering more on the side of psychedelic alternative rock rather than trying especially hard to lean into his more experimental tendencies. Yet again, the majority of this album feels like it's paying attention especially towards melodies, both from the softer playing style of Omar and the ever passionate vocals of Ximena Sariñana. The strangest stuff you'll find here really comes down to the more abstract qualities of the album rather than anything as easy to pinpoint as using strange sounding synths and the like, with the atmosphere being especially notable for how uncanny it can be with the way Omar's effects are used to make the vocals sound so detached from the rest of the music. My favourite moments in here have to be those that go for something slightly more layered without fully descending into more outright surreal territory, such as with a frenetic riff playing off the central melodies of Corazon, or some dense, distorted keyboards being slowly introduced over what begins as a rather minimalistic affair in No hay más respuestas. It's definitely a case of these smaller moments culminating in an album that while it rarely reaches outright incredible heights, but one that feels remarkably consistent and cohesive in its creative vision, and it's what ends up making Cizaña De Los Amores such a good listen despite not quite reaching for the grander heights of some of ORL's other solo material.