“Sasebo” marks a new phase for Quito, Ecuador’s dream pop outfit Sexores, noticeable from the first seconds of the sweeping track. That’s why it’s slightly disturbing that the beautiful orchestrally arranged song is sung from the point of view of a killer.
Sexores came to our attention two years ago with the release of their debut album Historias de Frío, a then transitional effort by Emilia Bahamonde and David Yépez when they moved their operation to Barcelona. The band comes full circle now, moving back to Quito, expanding their lineup to a quartet and releasing a video for the last single of Historias De Frío, “Techos Rojos.” They dove straight into their next phase with the release of “Sasebo.”
The first song shared from their forthcoming album Red Rooms, “Sasebo” is based on a real-life murder in the Japanese city of the same name; although said murder was real, much of it has been mythologized, serving as inspiration for Sexores to write the song from the (imagined) POV of the perpetrator. Musically, the band has matured while remaining dreamy and slightly goth, but showing growth in their songwriting, aided on this track by the Camerata del Conservatorio Superior Nacional De Música of Ecuador.
Red Rooms, described by the band as a “concept album,” will be released on July 17 through Italian label Coypu Records. The video for “Sasebo” was directed by Alejandro Villavicencio and it’s a Pánico Films production.