ALBUM NEWS: Malena Zavala - 'La Yarará'

Almost exactly two years ago I had the pleasure of catching Malena Zavala at a show in London where she was opening for Sivu. It was my first time hearing her music and I was instantly mesmerised. She soon released debut album Aliso and toured around Europe and the UK with the likes of Lord Huron and Blanco White before heading to southern Spain to write her second album. The result is La Yarará, which is due for release via the lovely folk at Yucatan Records on April 17th.

La Yarará was recorded last Sepember at Urchin Studios, with Malena herself producing and Dani Bennett Spragg (Baxter Dury, The Amazons) engineering. Malena describes Urchin as "a really beautiful, all wooden studio, which was really important for the sound of this album [...] I wanted it to feel like Buena Vista Social Club. I wanted to play the room, to feel the walls and wooden floors." 



While the first record was about "expressing [her] emotions", Malena describes the new record as being "about exploring and overcoming my identity issues - about not knowing where I belong. That's something I've felt my whole life." Born in Argentina to parents with Italian passports, and raised in the UK, Malena's rich heritage feeds beautifully into her art, with elements of Latin music and culture throughout, and a mix of Spanish and English lyrics representing Malena's own fragmented identity.

While recent lead single En La Noche was sang in Spanish, latest single I'm Leaving Home is sung in English. Malena explains that "I don't make a conscious choice to sing in a particular language [but with this track] the rhythm isn't so Latino, plus it's about my parents and how I feel about home, so it feels like it should be in English." For me, the track evokes a sense of nostalgia, it's like a warm hug on a cold day. I'm excited to hear more from the record!

Malena Zavala headlines London's Courtyard Theatre to celebrate the album release on April 23rd - tickets available here.

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LISTEN: Malena Zavala - 'A Vision That's Changed'

Atmospheric - that's probably the best word I've got to describe this one, the new single from Malena Zavala. I was lucky to catch Malena live a few weeks ago opening up for Sivu in London (I wrote about that stunning gig here) and can't wait for her debut record Aliso, which is due for release on 13th April via Yucatan Records. This new track builds slowly before we're introduced to a dreamy-guitar solo and layered vocals, resulting in a stunning tune that is warm to the core. It's a pretty promising sign of things to come from the record - keep an ear out for it! Catch Malena opening up for FIL BO RIVA at his London headliner on 17th April - tickets here.

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LIVE: Sivu at King's Place (15/2/18)

This write-up has been a little while coming, but I just had to talk about the stunning Sivu gig I went to a couple of weeks ago at King's Place. I did a little calendar digging before the show and worked out that I hadn't been to a gig in nearly two months, the longest gap between shows since before I started university in 2014. I was particularly excited because of this, and there was probably more than a little extra pressure for it to be a special night, and he delivered in bucket loads.



Sivu has released some of my favourite music of the last few years between his recent record Sweet Sweet Silent and 2014 debut Something On High, which very quickly became an album of the year for me at the time, and it's always a joy to catch him playing live. He's just been on a tour supporting John Smith around the UK, and took time in between shows to play this one-off headline show in London (with a string quartet, no less!) Not only was he performing with an all-female quartet, but both support acts were female. It feels almost ridiculous that this is something that strikes me as unusual or worthy of praise, but with the intensity of male-dominated line-ups both at gigs and festivals, this was incredibly refreshing.

Gender aside, the whole line-up was magical. First up was Malena Zavala, armed with an electric guitar and delivering some really dreamy, soothing tunes - her single Could You Stay is below, taken from upcoming debut album Aliso. Next, before Sivu took to the stage, Imogen. Barely able to mask her excitement at playing the venue's Steinway piano, she had another reason to be pretty excited - this was her first live show since having surgery last year. If there were any nerves it certainly didn't show, her vocals were incredibly powerful and her songs moving - there's an EP coming out soon, so look out for that!

Once it was time for Sivu to take the stage I felt as if I'd already got my money's worth for the show - always an impressive and gratifying thought. It turns out it could only continue to get better, as he delivered a set with The Mangan Quartet (led by Kirsty Mangan, who composed all the string parts for both of his records) beautifully recreating tracks from both records. Particular highlights for me were the non-album track Cold Hands and Sleep from the first record - both are big favourites of mine, but there really weren't any weak links in the set, every track had clearly been so carefully rehearsed, and the strings worked so perfectly. Throughout the set, it was clear that Sivu was humbly overwhelmed by both the turnout and the incredibly positive response to each song, writing on Twitter the morning after that it was "my favourite show ever" - a fairly positive review, I reckon! It truly was something special.

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