Los Angeles’ pop experimentalist Angélica Garcia today announces the June 7th release of her debut for Partisan Records, entitled Gemelo and translating to “Twin” in English. The album represents the two selves, the spirit and body, and tackles how they work together and against one another. An inspired convergence of vanguard electronic pop explorations mirroring the depth of its spiritual excavations, Gemelo was produced by Carlos Arévalo (Chicano Batman), and recorded over a month and a half in Virginia. There, Angélica discovered and tapped into a fresh pop auteur perspective, creating music that is searing and borderless, free of cultural confinement and challenging the notion that singing in English is a prerequisite for creating American music.
The news of Gemelo arrives today with lead single “Color De Dolor ” which explores the acknowledgement of grief in kaleidoscopic pop clarity and is a testament to Angélica’s philosophy of life – plus it was the first song she wrote for the album. The song, translating to “the color of pain,” is an anthem for processing how pain and beauty, rage and peace, sadness and joy all form the colors with which we render and process existence.
WATCH THE OFFICIAL ”COLOR DE DOLOR” VIDEO HERE | LISTEN HERE
With the announcement also comes the “Color De Dolor” music video directed by Barcelona-born filmmaker Sergi Castellà, featuring Angélica and shot in Simi Valley, CA. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/XjVzmzfO9gA
Grief is nuanced, and sometimes pain can be intertwined with beauty, “ says Angélica. “Gemelo is a body of work that explores the process of grieving – acknowledging the light and shadow within it. Color De Dolor was the first song that was written for Gemelo. It’s also the first song on the record where I face grief for what it is. I wanted Color De Dolor to feel very textured and lush, like you’re walking through a jungle. To me, its kaleidoscopic quality shows sadness and beauty.”
Gemelo is crucial for Angélica, marking not only her first album sung almost entirely in Spanish, but her first deeply probing the ancestral altar, having in recent years devoted herself to a process of monumental deconstruction — of religion, spirit, heritage, and womanhood, in turn confronting grief and finding liberation. “It was like getting dropped into ice water,” she says.
As her most focused work to date, Gemelo progresses from its delicate, tender entry in Side A, which serves like almost a meditation, to the visceral intensity of Side B, which immerses into the difficult, at times terrifying work of healing. All throughout the album she also challenges the traditional American pop music idioms, opening the floodgates with a refreshingly universal rhythmic set of songs where heritage snaps into focus in both lyric and disparate sound channeling elements of Yves Tumor, Kate Bush, Karen O, Rosalía, Kali Uchis and Xenia Rubinos. She and Arévalo have shaped a self-contained universe with her demos, bonding over everything from Portishead and Radiohead to Timbaland and early Madonna, incorporating front-and-center pop-vocal production and clublike textures and rhythms all throughout.
Already the previously released songs off the album, “Juanita,” and twin singles “El Que” and “Y Grito,” have garnered high praise from The New York Times who wrote, “With a voice that leaps and keens like Kate Bush, with echoes multiplying behind her, [Angélica] Garcia sings about an attraction that surges beyond the physical to the metaphysical…,” they wrote of her song “Juanita.” Additional praise has come from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, the Fader, NPR, who also included the album in their Spring music preview, as well as Remezcla who wrote that Angélica “..harbors the mixed chaos surrounding the discovery and breaking of generational trauma, while her alluring voice gently guides listeners through the ongoing and never-ending process.”
It’s clear Angélica has a major Spring and Summer in store, but she also has live plays across the UK this summer and will perform at The Great Escape Festival in May. She’s also fresh off the heels of debuting a brand new live show configuration supporting Estevie and then playing SXSW in Austin, where she performed for Stereogum, School Night, KCRW, KUTX, KEXP and more. See her full touring routing below.
Raised in El Monte by Mexican and El Salvadoran parents, Garcia has been surrounded by music her entire life – her mother was an artist who had a top 40 Hot 100 hit and her stepfather was in A&R prior to becoming a priest. Already she’s earned praise from the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair`, a debut at NPR’s Tiny Desk, space on Barack Obama’s annual best-of-the-year roundup with her cross-cultural anthem “Jicama” along with syncs at Apple, HBO, tour dates with Mitski, Vagabon and beyond. Now, with growth and exploration like wind behind her, Garcia has arrived at her clearest and most fully-realized vision of self.
Stay tuned for more to come from Angélica Garcia this Spring.
GEMELO TRACK LIST
- Reflexiones
- Color De Dolor
- Juanita
- Ángel [eterna]
- Mirame
- Y Grito
- El Que
- Intuición
- Gemini
- Paloma
ANGÉLICA GARCIA TOUR DATES
Thursday, May 16 – The Great Escape – Brighton, UK
Saturday, May 18 – London Calling Festival – Amsterdam, NL
May 23 – 26 – Festival Druga Godba – Ljubljana, SI
Monday, May 27 – Primavera Festival – Barcelona, ES
Saturday, June 1 – Maifield Derby – Mannheim, DE
Sunday, June 2 – Immergut Festival – Neustrelitz, DE
Monday, June 3 – Botanique, Witloff Bar – Brussels, BE
Tuesday, June 4 – Aucard De Tours Festival – Tours, FR
Wednesday, June 5 – Le Pop Up – Paris, FR
June 6 – 8 – Northside Festival – Aarhus, DK
Monday, June 10 – The Louisiana – Bristol, UK
Tuesday, June 11 – The Castle Hotel – Manchester, UK
Wednesday, June 12 – The Lower Third – London, UK
Friday, July 26 – Latitude Festival – Suffolk, UK
