LUIS BREA

After being the frontman for groups such as Los Hijos de Han Solo and Los Sitios, Luis Brea has finally ended up playing under his own name.But he doesn’t play alone: the current members of the band are Jorge Martí Climent, Hadrien Fregnac and Luis himself. The name has nothing to do with egocentrism, and actually exudes shyness from every pore. For years, critics had said things such as: “Los Hijos de Han Solo, back in the 90s, were a shoegaze group”, referring to a style that emerged in Britain in the 1980s called “shoegazing” by the press because of the band members’ habit of staring at the floor when performing. His timidity hides direct, personal and punchy songs with hints of styles as diverse as folk, bossa nova, singer-songwriter work and music in the style of Julio Iglesias. He also brings “plenty of punk rock” to his music. The Madrid-born composer just put out his first studio-recorded EP, De lo dicho nada, consisting of five pretty songs with intelligent lyrics that don’t fall short, but leave us wanting more. Two standouts are “Baso es con V” and “Botellas de Mahou”, but all five are played with vigour and catchy choruses. As influences, he cites Cine de Barrio, María Jiménez, Talking Heads, Rafael Azcona, the Velvet Underground, Modern Lovers, Otis Redding, The Sonics, Paralisis Permanente, Julio Iglesias, Sr. Chinarro, Lou Reed, The Cramps, Elvis Costello, Siniestro total, Albert Pla, KiKo Veneno, Tom Petty, Joy Division, Depeche Mode and all kinds of groups that dress in black. Luis Brea will perform for us on 18 August in the Archipiélago installation at Matadero Madrid’s summer terrace. Another smashing Thursday night concert.