Santacreu Releases Cançons d'Amor Dol i Enyorança
Santacreu is a band from Barcelona, Spain that, to their credit, is incredibly difficult to fit into a single category. You could call it metal, doom, doomgaze, post-metal, progressive, psychedelic, a combination of those things, or all of the above, and you'd be on the right track. All I can tell you is the first word that came to mind when I started playing Santacreu's new album, Cançons d'Amor, Dol i Enyorança, was "beautiful". In fact, I know I said, "That's beautiful! This is just beautiful!" multiple times out loud while listening. But, before I get too excited, as I have a tendency to do, let me back up a bit...
The Band
Santacreu is a three piece band made up of members from the Catalan rock music scene. They released their debut EP, L'Oblit, in March 2020. The band takes some inspiration from greats like YOB and OM, but they definitely have their own unique style that comes primarily from their local music scene. Lyrics and vocals are in the Catalan language, sung in an incredibly expressive manner by vocalist/guitarist/synthesizer extraordinaire Eugeni. Santacreu also includes Kandro on bass and Guillem on drums.
Cançons d'Amor Dol i Enyorança
Santacreu released Cançons d'Amor Dol i Enyorança on January 12, 2024. I happened upon it on a stoner/doom new release playlist, and it captured my attention right away, then held on tenaciously. The songs on the album take so many lovely twists and turns, I actually feel like I'd be committing an injustice by doing a track by track breakdown style of review. You genuinely have to listen to it yourself to get a true understanding and respect for this work of art. And, just like any work of art, especially one that is more progressive or abstract in nature, its meaning is even more subjective than usual. Instead, I'm going to give you more of an overall image of it, utilizing some lovely metaphors and adjectives:
To begin by being very general, I would say the overall tone of the album is doomy, primarily in tempo, tone and the palpable melancholia that is present. However, it has so many layers (those twists and turns I mentioned), that being so broad isn't really fair. There's something that feels a bit old about the album. And by old I don't mean retro or vintage, I mean ancient. In fact, I picture old, empty monasteries, abandoned French cathedrals with sunlight glinting weakly through foggy stained glass windows, arcane rituals performed atop Mayan pyramids, and crumbling Greco-Roman temples overtaken by vegetation. I imagine wars being waged, bravery, fear, devastation, and perseverance. Perhaps what I'm getting at here is this: It reminds me of ancient things that were once lovely, grand, or perhaps even imposing, that were lost to time or, more likely, the conquests of man. That being said, Cançons d'Amor Dol i Enyorança's album cover is a perfect fit for many of the images my brain conjures up while listening to it.
Furthermore, I very much enjoyed listening to the vocals and lyrics in Catalan. This isn't a language I'm familiar with, so my impressions of the album are based solely off of how the music and vocals made me feel and think with their sonic landscapes. As it turns out, I found this to be a really cool way to listen to something; a bit blindly, letting only the sound and vocal expression guide you. Granted, I adore learning about and listening to other languages, particularly through song, so this added immensely to the listening experience for me. The vocals themselves are incredibly powerful, melodic, and some of the most expressive I've heard to date; they add so much to the emotional experience of the album and truly complete the picture. I mean it very sincerely when I say you will be absolutely gobsmacked by the talent and range of this vocalist.
Cançons d'Amor Dol i Enyorança is very much a listening experience. Don't expect to necessarily put this album on and listen casually. This is something that deserves your undivided attention. You'll be taken on a thought-provoking, intense, yet meditative journey through sound and song. Find some noise-cancelling headphones, close your eyes, and allow Cançons d'Amor Dol i Enyorança to create beautiful art in your brain just as it did mine.
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