The countdown to the release of Sotomayor’s second full-length is on. The brother-sister duo has steadily ascended to success since the release of their debut album Salvaje in 2015. With a tight live show that they’re taking to Chicago next month for Ruido Fest, the Mexican band is gearing up for the next chapter of their career. They’re about to drop Conquistador, a collection of 10 new tracks in which they refresh their take on electronic music infused with Latin American rhythms and sounds.
To paint a picture of Conquistador’s eclecticism, Sotomayor are sharing two of the album tracks as a preview. First we have “Eléctrico,” a swirling cumbia concoction with a pop edge. About the song, Raúl Sotomayor says, “It almost wasn’t included on the record because, although I liked it a lot, we felt its sound was too common. But by the end of the recording sessions, [vocalist Paulina Sotomayor] came with the lyrics, and we had to include it because of its very special vibe.”
The second track is called “Afrika,” a darker, more techno-oriented tack with flourishes of African percussion. Paulina actually names the drums used in the lyrics; there are djembes, bougarabous, and dunduns. “It came from a search for a riskier sound,” says Raúl. “There was a moment when I felt I already had a formula to make songs, and that’s something I hate, actually. On ‘Afrika,’ I tried to do things differently; I went back to using samples, something I didn’t do at all on the last album, and I worked with processes and very different musical vibes.” He’s also responsible, with help from Salvador Trujillo, for the 3-D-rendered accompanying visuals, which show toy dinosaurs pulsing and throbbing to the beat of each drum hit.
Sotomayor kindly put together an Apple Music playlist to guide us through some of their inspirations for both of the new singles. Check it out below.
Sotomayor’s second full-length Conquistador drops officially on July 21, 2017.