Folk-rock finds an audience with the indie band, Espumas y Terciopelo
Hailing from Guadalajara, Mexico, indie band Espumas Y Terciopelo released their second album on streaming services like Spotify this year. The band and album have a growing success within the genre that artists like Julieta Venegas have perfected.
The band performs pop music influenced by traditional Mexican folk music. They have said: “We enjoy the simple things in life and admire what is around us.” Some of these simple things might be the folkloric guitars, accordions, and other traditional instruments made famous by time past.
The duo consists of Maricha Elizundia and Guillermo Andres. Maricha met with Guillermo, who had a band at the time, to take guitar lessons. Soon the two of them began playing in bars in Chiapas performing boleros. They spent a lot of time talking to people who played this style of music and decided to give it a try. Their first album, Mericha Y Memo was, even more, folk than the new album. It was simple and more acoustic. With this new album, Vive Despacito, the band experimented with more pop instruments like the electric guitar and more drums.
While this folk-pop has seen a surge in the music industry with artists such as Julieta Venegas and Natalia Lafourcade, it’s hard to succeed in it. I think it takes a certain charm to become accessible while performing this style of music. It is possible that Mericha could achieve some success, but I believe it would have to be without Guillermo by her side. Female/Male duos have a history of not lasting very long.
Vive Despacito, Espumas Y Terciopelo experimented with more pop instruments like the electric guitar and more drum
Many of the songs on the album are covers. “Si Nos Dejan” was made famous by Luis Miguel is a good song and they perform it well. Also, I enjoyed the cover of “Como Te Extraño” by Cafe Tacuba. But ultimately, I think my favorite song on the album is “Prefiero” which seems to be an original song from Espumas Y Terciopelo. The song has a cumbia beat, and while I don’t necessarily like that style of music, I enjoy Mericha’s voice during the chorus. It is very sweet and sensual at the same time.
For the most part, Vive Despacito by Espumas Y Terciopelo is okay. I spent two days listening to this album over and over to decide if I liked it or not. Consensus says that I don’t have an opinion. It isn’t my favorite album of the year, and I could recommend it to some people that I know will enjoy it.
You can follow Espumas Y Terciopelo on Twitter at @EspumasyT
Since that day, I have been study Latin pop and rock music and have become a Latin pop music historian through the publishing of articles, fanzine, and websites. My goal is to teach people about Latin pop music and the history behind it with my website, Siempre En Domingo.
- REVIEW: Los Claxons – Caminando En Fuego (2022) - November 6, 2022
- Review: Airbag – Siempre Tropical (2022) - November 6, 2022
- Debut: Thalia – Psycho Bitch - November 6, 2022