Spanish Love Songs – Schmaltz

Schmaltz is the first album by Spanish Love Songs that I have ever listened to, and it has quickly become my most listened to album of the year- by a long way. I found it when putting together my mid-year top 5 and making sure I hadn’t missed anything great, as it turns out, I had. I’ve been trying since I found the album to review and and I have no idea why but I just haven’t been able to get a review past the introduction paragraph, so I’ll be lucky to finish this one. In the spirit of getting something done, I’m going to go back to basics and structure this review from the top – the album cover. The album art doesn’t really do much for me with a photo of a middle aged man combing the ground with a metal detector, but with a white frame and Band Name at the top, album name at the bottom, it’s pretty clearly a pop-punk album.
 
The album opens up with Nuevo, the song that first played and it grabbed me from the first second. It starts off with a washed-out, broken sounding voice singing over a super slow and quiet guitar. It is reminiscent of The Hotelier at their absolute best, full of passion and absolutely gripping to listen to. I have no idea why but I love the lyrics “I can’t help but laugh at these edge kids I used to mosh with at church hardcore shows, getting blasted on Pabst. Burning holes into the wall with their parliaments. It’s a waste of time.” I struggle to make much sense of the line about Parliaments, unless the word has another meaning I’m not aware of, but the lyric as a whole reminds me of all ages hardcore shows at the Sunbury Youth Centre. With about 30 seconds left the song really kicks in musically, to set up the second song though there is no more lyrics.
 
“Sequels, Remakes & Adaptations” blends into”Nuevo” with one of the best song transitions I’ve heard in a long time, it is virtually impossible to tell where one song ends and the next starts. Overall, the song is solid but not a standout, surprisingly one of the lesser songs on the album so there isn’t too much to discuss. By the time the fourth song, “Buffalo, Buffalo” is over it is clear the band are onto something great with this album. This isn’t he best pop-punk song of the year – easily. It’s got everything, it starts off with the poppy riff, kicks into some emotional lyrics, changes up pace and hits lyrics like “some heavy handed statements, like I’ve never felt at home”. This is all before getting into themes of gun violence, and then the chorus hits as they sing out “would you meet me in the middle, would you meet me north of Buffalo” with bouncing guitars and I just want to ….. mosh. It makes me want to mosh like a teenager again.
 
The washed out vocals are back on board again to start “Otis/Carl”, one of the most emotional songs on the album as the singer recounts the story of a close friend/family members death. “I got the call in June, couldn’t bring myself to see you, even catch you on the phone. I wanted you to remember me in perfection, but really I’m just a fucking coward, I couldn’t stand to see you die.” Has to be one of the most intense lyrics on the emotional album, potentially resonating more as I wasn’t allowed to see my grandma for years before she died as my parents tried to preserve my memories of her before her Alzheimer’s.
 
I’ve actually managed to review this album! Finally! And so much so that I’ve run out of time to discuss everything, I’ll touch briefly on “The Boy Considers His Haircut” before wrapping this thing up. This one is a little more light hearted than other songs, opening with the line ‘my dad says that I’d probably have more fans if I could learn to talk about some happier shit’ and continues to describe how the vocalists life isn’t actually that bad and they’ve “never really been hurt”. Though the whole premise of the song (based in the title) is channeled into the line “I want to find a haircut that fits me that hasn’t been stolen by Nazi’s” there remains a certain sense of seriousness and passion to the vocals.
 
Well, it’s time to wrap this thing up and unfortunately that means skipping over the last 5 songs of the album – though that gives you chance to find some of these songs for yourself. I have to ask that anyone that reads this review gives the album a good listen, you won’t be disappointed! My favourite album of the year so far for sure.
 
Schmaltz is the first album by Spanish Love Songs that I have ever listened to, and it has quickly become my most listened to album of the year- by a long way. I found it when putting together my mid-year top 5 and making sure I hadn’t missed anything great, as it turns out, I had. I’ve been trying since I found the album to review and and I have no idea why but I just haven’t been able to get a review past the introduction paragraph, so I’ll be lucky to finish this one. In the spirit of getting something done, I’m going to go back to basics and structure this review from the top – the album cover. The album art doesn’t really do much for me with a photo of a middle aged man combing the ground with a metal detector, but with a white frame and Band Name at the top, album name at the bottom, it’s pretty clearly a pop-punk album.
 
The album opens up with Nuevo, the song that first played and it grabbed me from the first second. It starts off with a washed-out, broken sounding voice singing over a super slow and quiet guitar. It is reminiscent of The Hotelier at their absolute best, full of passion and absolutely gripping to listen to. I have no idea why but I love the lyrics “I can’t help but laugh at these edge kids I used to mosh with at church hardcore shows, getting blasted on Pabst. Burning holes into the wall with their parliaments. It’s a waste of time.” I struggle to make much sense of the line about Parliaments, unless the word has another meaning I’m not aware of, but the lyric as a whole reminds me of all ages hardcore shows at the Sunbury Youth Centre. With about 30 seconds left the song really kicks in musically, to set up the second song though there is no more lyrics.
 
“Sequels, Remakes & Adaptations” blends into”Nuevo” with one of the best song transitions I’ve heard in a long time, it is virtually impossible to tell where one song ends and the next starts. Overall, the song is solid but not a standout, surprisingly one of the lesser songs on the album so there isn’t too much to discuss. By the time the fourth song, “Buffalo, Buffalo” is over it is clear the band are onto something great with this album. This isn’t he best pop-punk song of the year – easily. It’s got everything, it starts off with the poppy riff, kicks into some emotional lyrics, changes up pace and hits lyrics like “some heavy handed statements, like I’ve never felt at home”. This is all before getting into themes of gun violence, and then the chorus hits as they sing out “would you meet me in the middle, would you meet me north of Buffalo” with bouncing guitars and I just want to ….. mosh. It makes me want to mosh like a teenager again.
 
The washed out vocals are back on board again to start “Otis/Carl”, one of the most emotional songs on the album as the singer recounts the story of a close friend/family members death. “I got the call in June, couldn’t bring myself to see you, even catch you on the phone. I wanted you to remember me in perfection, but really I’m just a fucking coward, I couldn’t stand to see you die.” Has to be one of the most intense lyrics on the emotional album, potentially resonating more as I wasn’t allowed to see my grandma for years before she died as my parents tried to preserve my memories of her before her Alzheimer’s.
 
I’ve actually managed to review this album! Finally! And so much so that I’ve run out of time to discuss everything, I’ll touch briefly on “The Boy Considers His Haircut” before wrapping this thing up. This one is a little more light hearted than other songs, opening with the line ‘my dad says that I’d probably have more fans if I could learn to talk about some happier shit’ and continues to describe how the vocalists life isn’t actually that bad and they’ve “never really been hurt”. Though the whole premise of the song (based in the title) is channeled into the line “I want to find a haircut that fits me that hasn’t been stolen by Nazi’s” there remains a certain sense of seriousness and passion to the vocals.
 
Well, it’s time to wrap this thing up and unfortunately that means skipping over the last 5 songs of the album – though that gives you chance to find some of these songs for yourself. I have to ask that anyone that reads this review gives the album a good listen, you won’t be disappointed! My favourite album of the year so far for sure.
 
9/10

Matt Power
30 September 2019