Marinero
Hella Love
Hardly Art
May 21, 2021 Web Exclusive
Jess Sylvester’s (aka Marinero) debut for Sub Pop imprint Hardly Art is an openly penned love letter to an earlier era of San Francisco, his parents’ roots, and the joys of music. Borrowing heavily from Latin-influenced styles of flamenco, mariachi, bossa nova, and more Americanized genres, Sylvester weaves a tapestry of his mother’s Mexican heritage, his father’s sea swept adventures (from where Sylvester’s Marinero moniker derives), and his own displacement from the Golden Gate City. A victim of the city’s dot-com gentrification, Sylvester relocated to Los Angeles, where most of Hella Love was recorded. His seemingly effortless hopscotched musical approach is colored by a wistful longing rather than any air of discord over a forced departure from the city he loves.
The album opens with the appropriately titled “Fanfare,” a brief but telling piece. Flavored initially by muted percussion akin to the sounds of Los Lobos’ offshoot project, Latin Playboys, the instrumental piece shifts to a layered trumpet call to signal the start of Sylvester’s story. Though brief, “Fanfare” points to the fluidity of styles that Sylvester employs to get from beginning to end, that in turn mirrors the rich diversity of The Mission district which is the album’s jumping off point.
The central core of songs here, starting with “Nuestra Victoria,” takes the listener on a drone level fly over of key parts of the city. “Nuestra Victoria” leans into its gentle groove and tells of the bakery where his mother worked that is now shuttered. “Luz del Faro” stands paramount at the middle of the album, showcasing Sylvester’s skills as capable bandleader and tackler of styles. The song starts as a jaunty mariachi with Sylvester taking a relaxed vocal turn, melds in percussion and drums at its sweeping center, horns in the stretch, and then morphs to a Summer of Love psychedelic-flecked swirl at the end. “Outerlands” looks to the Southern California sound of Sylvester’s new home, with a Beach Boys’ inspired sound worthy of Brian Wilson’s tenderest of compositions. Finally, “Beyond the Rainbow Tunnel” takes us to the Sausolito passage that serves as both entry and exit point to the city. Compressed passages alternate with unfettered ones that match the act of traversing the tunnel with the tendrils of multi-colored vehicles whizzing beyond in either direction.
Ironically, the title song starts with snippets of radio dial broadcasts, including one that advertises a clipped off “dot-com” right at the beginning. The proliferation of tech stock millionaires are what, in part, have pushed California’s median home price over three-quarters of a million dollars and led to the state’s first ever population decline since its founding in 1850. Though these statistics are what pushed Marinero to set sail for more economical shores, Sylvester’s smoothly sung falsetto on “Hella Love” takes some of the pain away and recalls Whitney’s Julien Ehrlich. The song itself would fit as an outtake from that band’s Light Upon the Lake album, and reflects on Sylvester’s parents meeting and his own departure.
As the album closes, Sylvester touches upon Serge Gainsbourg’s stylings (“Maritime”), the Indians of All Tribes occupation of Alcatraz (“Isle of Alcatraz”), and even some high-hat disco vibes on the closing track (“Frisco Ball”). If it sounds that there is a lot going on over the course of the album, there certainly is, but it all plays out as naturally as the most subtle of João Gilberto’s classic bossa novas. Sylvester embraces his Chicano heritage, the multi-varied Latin and other inflections that color his music, and the city he adores from afar. A few Marinero albums in, Hella Love also announces the arrival of a bandleader capable of arranging an array of musicians and instrumentation across a broad spectrum of styles, often in the confines of a single song. Sylvester’s decision to craft the album around a theme seems both daunting and the most natural thing in the world. Ultimately, Hella Love coalesces as an elegantly understated masterpiece of municipal proportions. (www.maringuero.bandcamp.com)
Author rating: 8.5/10
Average reader rating: 8/10
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