With 2020's
Cha Cha Palace
,
Angelica Garcia
fused her indie rock sensibilities with her Mexican and Salvadoran roots, crafting an album of bold, hyper-colored art pop. The album's recording proved transformative for the singer/songwriter, provoking a move from her adopted home of Richmond, Virginia, back to her native Los Angeles, where she had grown up. There, she continued to delve into her heritage, going through a period of deep self-reflection as she questioned her ways of thinking and being in the world, both culturally and creatively. Sung almost entirely in Spanish, 2024's
Gemelo
is the culmination of that transformation, an album of pearlescent and kaleidoscopic dance anthems produced with
Chicano Batman
guitarist/multi-instrumentalist
Carlos Arévalo
. The title is Spanish for twin, a reference to both the Zodiac symbol Gemini, and the representation of the many dualities
Garcia
experiences in her life. Where
was vibrant, bombastic, and rough around the edges,
is sleek, built around pulsing synths, and spiraling electronic and analog percussion. There's a sense that
has expanded her influences, mixing her art-punk inclinations with a yearning, theatrical sophistication that recalls artists like
Kate Bush
and
Bat for Lashes
. Central to the album is "Color de Dolor" or "The Color of Pain," a dizzying midnight club track where spiraling synths crash against a Latin-tinged electronic groove. Here,
digs into her feelings of generational trauma while seeking artistic liberation, singing in Spanish, "What is the color of pain?/It moves in my body like a tide/Transforming, choking, ruthless/Even though I will never sever the tie with my pains, I paint them full of colors." Equally kinetic and dreamlike moments pop up elsewhere, as on the dub-inflected "Jaunita," the dusky,
Giorgio Moroder
-esque ballad "Mirame," and the buzzy electro-grunge of "Y Grito." Full of dark-hued emotions that speak to the self-examination and deconstruction
went through,
is also bright with passion and artful musical experimentation. ~ Matt Collar