Las Resenas Casuales. Russian Red "Agent Cooper"

Russian Red "Agent Cooper" (p)2014 Sony Music

It's neither good nor bad nor anything like that but the 'early version' of Russian Red is gone.

Lourdes Hernandez have changed alot. Gone are the quiet acoustic pickings and strummings, along with the quiet tongue-in-cheek singings which were more than usual on her previous two albums - "I Love Your Glasses" and "Fuerteventura". Now Lourdes sounds rich, and her singing - still tongue-in-cheek - is now definitely not quiet. Her voice has changed as well. The childish girlish obertones gave way to vocals which belong to a woman, not a girl - masterfully mixing longing with confusion and/or grief with all that passion with the greatest of ease.

The name of the album clearly appeals to "Twin Peaks", a creature of gloomy genius David Lynch (coincidentally, the definitive TV show goes to its 24th anniversary this year). "Agent Cooper" consists of the songs named by male names or surnames. Hastily I assumed that all the songs are named in honor of the series characters but it was a mistake - I can't recall anyone called Xavier or Tim B amongst the "Twin Peaks" characters.

The music. The music now incorporates the full arrangements, the elements of vintage pop, the tricky processing effects and all that 'chicks with brains' attitude that made the girls like Katie Herzig or Butterfly Boucher famous. For the better effect, all the aforementioned ingridients are covered with the salsa of vulnerability and new-found sexuality.

And, you know, this is really cool album. I like it more than any previous Lourdez' effort - but overall feeling is somehow kinda ambivalent, cos it's always a bit sad (though contradictory promising) when the young girls grow up.