LA DIMENSION DESCONOCIDA,THE NEW RAEMON
BCore Disc, Spain
Rating: 79
By Carlos Reyes
Early this year The New Raemon (Ramon Rodriguez) released the interesting but not so memorable La Invasion de los Ultracuerpos EP and as we’re headed to the end of the year, he has extended the idea with a much more clever release. La Dimensión Desconocida sounds like an expansion of his last EP (plus the artwork gives us hints to believe that), one would lead to suspect he would magnify his concept on anatomy and science but instead he makes a stripped-down reinterpretation that’s luckily easier to swallow. He might be a bit too attached to rock’s norms and is in serious need of more drums, but he takes his chances recruiting an actual band delivering a great theater-like production with a bunch of tricks and charms that make its most subtle intentions come out in glamour.
Just like A Proposito de Garfunkel, this album glows in its overall construction; plaintive melodies with concrete ideas behind it. It’s that mournful feeling surrounding these songs what makes them special and at the same time, what hurts them. See, more often than not, folk-rock is victim of its own flourishing; in one side its warmth is enough to cover a big range of genres but in the other, it’s like having a big box with very few things to fill up with. The album kicks off well with “La Siesta”, ironically one of the least dreamy tracks although it’s one of the many fables you’ll find here. If something Spanish lyricists give us is plenty of good one-liners and this is no exception: “Nuestra relación no sobrevivió a la relación en cadena.”
As opposed to many folk rockers, The New Raemon is able to break into the indie-meets-adult pop niche of people like La Bien Querida, Lidia Damunt, Francisco Nixon and Sr. Chinarro. He throws another great line in “Estupendos”, “la poca inclinación a dar muestras de afecto nos va a devorar esta vez”, such a catchy song should not only be able to breakthrough but it would be great for a TV commercial, then again I would argue the same thing about some songs by Franny Glass or Camila Moreno. The New Raemon is one step from glory; he’s standing on middle ground, this could be good or bad as he doesn’t reach for either balance or polarizing extremes in force, speed or lyrically. One thing is certain, wherever he is going, the melody follows him, we’re just lucky to get on the wagon.