It’s easy to see why O Tortuga get lumped in with many other Mexico City-based slacker rock bands. Although they have worked their asses off playing all over the city and even landing a spot at Vive Latino this year, their music seems to be rooted in playing rock music without trying too hard.
Sure enough, the video for their latest single “Ferrari” features a bunch of people hanging out instead of doing stuff because stuff sucks. We see them relaxing by the grass, driving around, going to the liquor store, and getting fucked up at a party. The band, meanwhile, plays their catchy brand of post punk, featuring great Smiths-meets-surf-rock lines.
There are little stories intertwining many of the characters (some of which are played by members of fellow slackers Hawaiian Gremlins), little vignettes that seem to carry weighted emotions and conversations that we can only imagine. Everything is subtle, until there’s an explosive kiss between two guys. Once this scene happens, the music goes harder. It’s as if the whole setting of the video (including the music) is a decoy to lure us and reveal that, in fact, O Tortuga do care about something. The rest of the video seems to take on an air of rapt ecstasy, a celebration of love and happiness, yet hardly anything changes – the band plays on and the people keep on hanging out. It’s a shift in the mind of the viewers, the power of emotion communicated through sound and vision.