Music Review // Las Aves "I'll Never Give Up on Love Until I Can Put a Name on It"

https://open.spotify.com/album/2MYX8P2odOYTYEZtTe5KR5 //

While I fully and completely adore this album from Las Aves, the fact is that I'm willing to admit that in the months that I've been listening to it I didn't really fully understand it, and even as I type this right now maybe I still don't but I type it with the hopes that I eventually do.

This album opens with a song called "You Need A Dog".   It starts as a conversation between two friends, one seemingly going through a heartbreak and feeling like they will never love again until these huge beats kick in and they practically yell "You need a dog / You need a fucking dog"    Earlier this year, Highasakite released an album with a song on it called "I Call Bullshit" and I think these are the two songs I quote the most in my every day life.  (Though, obviously, some people I wouldn't want to get a dog because I'd feel badly for the dog)

"A Change Of Heart" is the second song and I really feel like every song on here is a single.  It's definitely an album of the year contender if I did such a list again this year.    This song is about getting the text that we don't text anymore and in that way it's about not talking to someone and, yeah, sometimes you have a change of heart and what you once felt you no longer feel.

The third song is called "Baby" and it has the hook: "A baby in my belly then no baby in my hands" which can be taken at least three different ways and I think that just goes to show the genius of this album.   I listen to what I feel like is quite a bit of pop music and musically I like to think of Las Aves as electronic pop, but there is something different between what you hear on the radio and these songs.    A lot of the pop music which I listen to can simply be about heartbreak and it can feel one dimensional whereas Las Aves, in a lyrical sense, seem to have broken through into the fourth dimension.

"Worth It" is about body image while a song simply titled "+" comes in with this big "Knight RIder" sound and it's rather easy to get caught up in the music to the point where you are singing along and don't understand the words until some time later.    "Cancel On Me" is more of a traditional song in the pop sense but it is also more firm and direct in the message than I think sometimes other songs can be. 

Perhaps another reason why you might not hear all of these Las Aves songs on the radio is because of their song called "Fuck That Shit" which is just a perfect pop bop but, you know, the radio does not approve of such words.    I believe this was actually the first single I heard from this album that made me really stop and listen because it's that idea of music which tends to be radio-friendly not being radio-friendly.

"Latin Love" has a vibe such as the title suggests and "Where Did You Go" is more driving, asking the question with answers we all wish to know.   The final song is called "Thank You" and it has spoken words during the verses, which is where you'll also hear the title of this album, and singing during the chorus.  It's minimal and yet so powerful, as this whole album which I think would span the course of two records if produced as such, still from start to finish it's one of the best experiences you can possibly have.