A synthpop group those VERY long-term readers may remember from the Stylus years…
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Edward Okulicz: Despite a run of enjoyable singles last decade, I lost track of Miranda! So it’s nice to see that, about to release album number eight, they’re still around, and bringing a well-turned bit of synth-rock. A good comparison point would be some of the songs off Paramore’s After Laughter, or Kim Wilde if she’d had intermittent bursts of Nile Rodgers guitar. Each part of the song has a strong, memorable melody (even if the verse’s skates a little close to Britney’s “Boys”), and both singers shine. Alejandro a Sergi has a flair for the bright lights of new wave, and Juliana Gattas somehow sounds ten years younger than my ten-year-old memories. Also, the slinky sibilants of Rioplatense pronunciation give a little extra spikiness, and that’s very welcome.
[8]
Rebecca A. Gowns: This is a real throwback. Actually, this is a bubbling stew of throwbacks. I hear elements of ’80s Latino pop, ’90s Latino indie rock, ’00s-era Latino 3rd wave ska, a piece of “Lovefool” here, a dash of early Lady Gaga there. There’s no transformation, just presentation, and that’s fine with me. I imagine it’d fit in effortlessly in the playlists on Super Estrella Radio, in between Ragazzi and Moenia and Las Ketchup.
[7]
Tim de Reuse: Perfectly functional electro-pop. I’m reminded of many a rubbery bassline released by DFA back when I was in high school and perpetually excited to tell people what “dance-punk” was. None of the bands of that era kept their energy into this decade, but these guys sound excited to be here, and the out-of-breath delivery is moderately contagious.
[7]
Crystal Leww: More aesthetic than substance, Miranda! leaves me wanting more neon and brightly colored clothing than their actual music.
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Joshua Minsoo Kim: The instrumentation is fine, if a little standard, but it’s Ale Sergi & Juliana Gattas’s versatile singing that makes “La Colisión” worthwhile. Their smooth delivery of “baby” and the chorus’s hushed vocalizing make you want to dance to that tactile bassline.
[5]
Alfred Soto: Excellent Argentinian synth pop with a particularly effective clavinet stutter. Alejandro Sergi likes the bloke in Phoenix but way sexier.
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Juana Giaimo: For a long time, Miranda! abandoned their infectious electropop and tried instead to write ballads, which were alright but lacked the energy we can now listen again in “La Colisión”. As usual, the lyrics are far from cliché. This time they seem to be singing about something as mundane as a car crash, but with a clever and funny way of narrating the story with lines like: “I lent her the car and my heart. The heart is OK but she crashed the car.” Ale Sergi’s vocals in the verses are loose on the beat and not very melodious, contrasting with Juliana Gattas’ part, which is very structured and almost sounds artificial — as if it belonged to “Barbie Girl” by Aqua. But the chorus is what makes “La Colisión” so catchy: The melody is faster, and the double vocals — one deep and the other high-pitched– are irresistible.
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