After a string of early releases, Costa Rica’s Las Robertas are set to release their first studio album, Love Is The Answer, out February 3rd 2023 on Kanine Records. The album’s first taste comes in the form of the wavey first single ‘Awakening’.
Produced by Owen Morris (Oasis, The Verve, New Order), who the band met at a small art gallery party in their home city, the Costa Rican quintet deliver a hazy, distorted anthem with ‘Awakening’. Sonically a nod to the 90s, the sun drenched sound takes you on a cosmic trip to festival fields, while the lyrics take on a deeper meaning, finding hope in times when your world seems lost. “The track is about going through hard times, but realising there will be an end for it, maybe not as fast as you want, but there is light, hope and better things to come,” lead singer Mercedes said of the ‘Awakening’ .
The track is accompanied by a stunning video produced by A SUN / Adriana Ramírez. Set at the top of the mountains of Cartago in Costa Rica, the trippy video sees Mercedes on a quest for a connection with nature. ‘A fusion of mystery, prayer, and presence and a gateway to a sacred place, the video is a quest to find this powerful mix,’ Adriana said of the video.’It’s a place where nature feels full of secrets and the moss and the mist conquers your mind.’ Watch the video HERE.
A labour of love, the band began recording the album with Owen Morris in December 2019 in Hermosillo, Mexico and with factors out of their hands finished the project sporadically throughout 2020 back in San José. A blend of 90s rock, shoegaze and drenched in influence from psyche rock, the album delivers nine measures of raw, fuzzed out, guitar driven brilliance with an infectious pop edge. Lyrically the LP finds love towards the universe, individual freedom and hope in a time where the world seems ever closer to being consumed in chaos. “It is what pain sounds like,” Felipe says of the album. “But if you go beyond the sad layers of the songs, you’ll end up with guidance full of hope and strength to keep on going.”
Growing up in Costa Rica, an ecological country known for its biodiversity, the band found solace in the nature that surrounded them and gravitated towards each other at a young age for their joint love of music. Having played in various bands together over the years the group has built a small, but strong scene in a place where music venues are sparse. Now with a debut record in their hands the band has a will to take their music to all corners of the world.
With tour dates in the works for 2023 and excitement already brewing for their debut full length, Las Robertas are set to soundtrack next summer. Don’t sleep on them!!
Las Robertas are: Mercedes Oller, Russell Davis, Felipe Oller, Daniela García and Fabrizio Duran.
