Alasdair Maclean reviews Limay

"Limay has the glamour and harmonic complexity of classical guitar music but the freedom of pop"

Alasdair Maclean of The Clientele and Amor de Dias played and sung on Hacia Dos Veranos's second, eponymous album in 2010. For their third album, Limay, he's reviewed it:

This is one of the reasons I love Hacia Dos Veranos: at 2:00 into ‘Las Bailarinas Azules’ a melody takes shape, swooping downwards; on first listen I followed the harmonies, the cymbals, the bass and I realised I had no idea where they were going. It was still recognisably a pop song but for one gorgeous moment the ground fell out from underneath me.

So few bands do this nowadays. Modern songwriting is about simplicity not subtlety, and the transcendental effect of the unexpected note (6th, 9th, 11th) has become a bit of a lost art. Maybe it’s all those fucking ukuleles.

Hacia dos Veranos play many, many beautiful chords and for that I love them.

Their guitarist is a maestro: economical, precise, lyrical. His rolling, arpeggiated style will remind you of Felt’s Maurice Deebank or Vini Reilly, but he also possesses a faint echo of Johnny Marr, in that for all his sense of space and harmony he’s playing tunes first and foremost. And he can strum too.

A closer touchstone might be the great Argentinian traditional guitarist Atahualpa Yupanqui, whose stately and elegant music was introduced to me by er.. Hacia Dos Veranos's guitarist, as payment for once singing a song for them. And yet.. and yet... it also sounds so weirdly English. Pastoral Witchseason type stuff but without using any of the obvious Nick Drake / Vashti motifs. It’s the atmosphere more than anything, the feeling of unhurried reverie.

This record couldn't have been made in past eras though. There's no singer, there are distorted bits and fast drums too. It's not jazz. It's too melodic and accessible to get Arts Council funding or be album of the year in The Wire. It has the glamour and harmonic complexity of classical guitar music but the freedom of pop.

No one has done that very convincingly before (I tried, since you're obviously dying to know, but got sidetracked). Which again, I love them for. I love them for the fact they're doing their own thing and it's entirely theirs, and it also happens to be so rich and so perfectly self-contained.

Limay is released on February 18. You can order a copy now.

free single from Hacia Dos Veranos

we thought you might like to hear some previous HITS from the marvellous Hacia Dos Veranos, so here, for your FREE downloading pleasure are Yo La Tenia and Despertar... we asked Ignacio to let us know a little about each track

‘Yo la tenía’ is an ode to those summer mornings in which you wander around the city after a night out under the influence of stuff, and you amaze at the ordinary becoming strange and fantastic. People exercising in the park or waiting for the bus to go to work are suddenly transformed into scenes of disturbing fascination.

‘Despertar’ is the third and last song of our first EP, which is conceived as portraying the three stages of a sleepy afternoon. This track represents the pleasant waking up after the confusion of sleep.

Preview "Limay"

Hacia Dos Veranos - "Limay" (Adelanto/ Preview) from Hacia Dos Veranos on Vimeo. By Mauricio Heredia.

Limay

http://fotosdelobello.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/rio-limay-valle-encantado.jpg

We decided on the title: it's going to be called "Limay", it's our hometown's river, because this album reminds us very much of our youth in that city http://www.argentour.com/images/rio_limay_anfiteatro.jpg

Hacia Dos Veranos

Hacia Dos Veranos play instrumental psychedelic rock inspired by the landscapes of their native Patagonia, the evenings listening to Galaxie 500, Litto Nebbia, The Clientele and the glorious lethargy of summer days.

They started playing in 2005 and so far they have released two albums. 'De los valles y volcanes' (Of Valleys and Volcanoes), released in 2007 to critical acclaim in Argentina and Spain, led to a deal with Warners. Tired of Warners dragging their feet over relasing their second album, 'Hacia Dos Veranos', they released it as a free download in 2010, to excellent reviews and plays from Gideon Coe on 6Music. Their music has been included in compilations from Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Italy and the UK, and in Martín Piroyansky's award-winning film 'No me ama' (She doesn't love me).  The band's name is based on the book Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller and as they themselves say: "As (the summer) is the season that brings memories, go to two summers is like going in search of happiness ".

Hacia Dos Veranos remain the world's most enigmatic and charismatic band. Their third album, will be the first album issued by the label of London’s Hangover Lounge club, on February 17, 2013.

Hacia Dos Veranos es un grupo de rock psicodélico instrumental inspirado por los paisajes de su Patagonia nativa, las noches escuchando Galaxie 500, Litto Nebbia, The Clientele, y el glorioso letargo de los días de verano.

Comenzaron tocando en 2005 y, hasta el momento, tienen dos discos editados. 'De los valles y volcanes', editado en 2007 en Argentina y España, con excelente recepción en la crítica y el público especializado. Su segundo disco, 'Hacia Dos Veranos', fue editado online en forma gratuita en 2010, también fue recibido con muy buenas críticas de medios como Pitchfork y la BBC. Sus canciones han sido incluidas en compilados de Argentina, Mexico, Brasil, Italia y el Reino Unido, y en el corto de Martín Piroyansky 'No me ama', premiado en varios festivales de cine independiente. El nombre de la banda está tomado del libro Trópico de Cáncer de Henry Miller y, tal como ellos afirman: "Como (el verano) es la estación que mejores recuerdos nos trae, ir hacia dos veranos es como ir en busca de la felicidad".

Hacia Dos Veranos continúan siendo la banda más carismática y enigmática del mundo y su tercer album, el primero editado por el sello londinense Hangover Lounge, saldrá en vinilo el 17 de febrero de 2013.