Vaya Futuro
El Peso del Mundo
SCORE: 7.7 out of 10
Vaya Futuro come back with an undeniably more mature sound, but at times, it can feel as if they’re overcompensating. But, despite having elements that didn’t work, El Peso del Mundo raises the bar for mainstream national indie projects due to its ambition.
Vaya Futuro are all grown up now and they want you to notice. Long gone are the days in which they were the local shoegaze band, way before the tepid Cocteau Twins/MBV craze began invading Tijuana, and even though they were as clichéd as the projects that came after them, it was evident that Vaya Futuro had more ambition, even if they’ve been somewhat inconsistent with it. The need to distance themselves from being just another shoegaze band, led them to go through drastic stylistic changes, but no matter how different the sound is, you can always tell it’s Vaya Futuro. That is quite the accomplishment, especially since many projects on the entry-level indie scene don’t really achieve that.
The band has gone from “mild” MBV worship, to krautrock (obviously), to standard indie-rock, to blatant Flaming Lips ripoffs (earning them the nickname “Vaya Tributo”). Now, to show us how further away they have moved from it all, the band has turned to lush orchestral arrangements, dark subject matter (although this has been a constant throughout their career), and a very self-important aesthetic which contrasts with the playfulness they used to convey even in their bleaker moments; looking at their recent pictures I even thought they were going to follow Vyctoria’s footsteps and blast us with low-tuned distorted guitars, feedback and droning ecstasy —which wouldn’t have been a bad thing, since Vaya Futuro are really good at getting heavy-ish, as shown in El Hombre Sin Cabeza y la Danza de los Resignados.
El Peso del Mundo is undeniably a more mature effort, but just as a child that is forced into adulthood very early on, some of it may feel blown out of proportion. Rather than serving the songs, the orchestral arrangements on some tracks (especially the singles) reek of overcompensation; “Talion” sees the band trying too hard to take stabs at a darker sound and the result is just overly dramatic (this exaggerates tenfold if you watch the video). It’s actually the tamer moments that work best, since they show that Vaya Futuro have the ability to evoke powerful emotions without having to rely too much on over-the-top delivery or arrangements.
The vocals are varied and different in each song, but this has always been the “hit-or-miss” element with the band, especially when Luis (vocals, guitar, piano) insists on staying within a high register, like in “Florecer/El Eremita” which made getting through the song without cringing very difficult. There are very nice inflections and melismas, but they do get repetitive since they’re used similarly throughout the album. Nonetheless, there are great performances, especially on tracks like “Heima”, “(((O)))” and “Luciferina”, which, again, serve as proof that the band is at its best when showing more restrain.
We cannot blame a band for going nuts with the sonic and instrumental capabilities they had at their disposal (if you can afford to have a string quartet on your album, by all means, use the hell out of it); it’s just that, sometimes, audience and artists alike are tricked into believing that’s good enough. An abundance of resources doesn’t make an album good, but to be fair, despite the elements that didn’t work, there are excellent displays of soundscaping (“Heima” and “Sosiego”) and if we strip down the tracks to their bare essence, most of them will be more than capable of standing on their own. Regardless of the results, Vaya Futuro are one of the few bands that will always try to keep you guessing what’s coming next, and that’s more than enough; in that sense, El Peso del Mundo raises the bar for mainstream national indie projects due to its ambition.
