Montevideo Mondays (VI)
From the beginning of this post you should know that in Montevideo we know how to love the blues and the bands that work the classic rock forms adding them some personality. Blues is in the ADN of our black influenced music, his spirit lives in the virtuosism of most of our guitar players and also in our history, with acts like Días de Blues, the lonesome Gato Eduardo or the even more underground band El Conde de St. Germain, just to mention some examples. The list of references is very broad and open, with little sparks of influence disseminated into different genres.
The root is deep, no matter how many things we do to avoid it. And a lot of it is evident in Revolver´s new record, Vengan todos a la luz (“Come all to the light”). The center of Revolver´s sound is based in the full-of-spirit voice of Sr. Faraon and Gonzalo Marín, and since the beginning their songs drive to a full of attitude guitar work, more closer to hard rock forms. Among other significant duties such as being responsible for the drums in local indie classics Hablan Por la Espalda, the aforementioned Faraón (aka Ismael Varela) is also the author of Siguiendo al rayo, one of the finest and purest-but-still-personal blues records of the last years in Uruguay (you can listen to it here).
This new Revolver record is the follower to Peligroso río. Maybe at this point we can say that the path of Revolver looks similar to the one of José Gonzalez´s Junip: despite moving into very different genres, Revolver sounds like a great amplifier of a personal style, the prove that some cool voices can grow to bigger volumes without getting into trouble. Just like happens with the argentinean-swedish songwriter. The result in this new record is often exciting, sometimes relaxing and elevating, with the addition of some cathartic moments.
Revolver can be pointed as a band with an oldschool style and that will not be wrong at all. But that concept is tricky: sometimes the idea of an oldschool sound ends in something rancid, a mere repetition of old formulas. It would be unfair to put this record close to that kind of approach. At some points, Revolver knows how to sound like a very unique reinterpretation of old styles.
And last but not least, it´s the prove that in Uruguay you can always find good non-cliché rock to hear live. Or -here comes one of the good clichés that never tire us- to soundtrack a good roadtrip fantasy, with your stereo at its full capacity. Because come on, you can never be tired of that.
You can get the whole new record here, for free.
