Michael Sarian - León (2018)

Albeit mostly playful, there's a common stigma against gingers (people with red hair) throughout the world, and my home country Argentina is no different. Although they don't believe gingers have no soul, and although they don't believe gingers are vampires; they do believe they're bad luck. There's this saying, Colorado Yeta, which roughly translates into 'bad luck ginger' (yeta = bad luck; = yeta, Colorado = ginger). To be honest, I never felt discriminated against because of my red hair, but I did stand out. Originally, the album title was going to be Colorado Yeta, which is the more introspective track, melancholic, almost like a ballad. But I knew that non-Spanish speakers would have a hard time pronouncing and understanding that title. Additionally, I didn't want the whole album to have this defeatist vibe to it, so I thought about what positive twist I could give the fact that I am, in fact, a ginger. Enter León (lion). Yes, I have long red hair and a beard, but the lion speaks to more than just my, or anyone else's, appearance. It speaks to anyone who's ever felt 'less than' for any reason, because they too can be a lion. The lion represents anyone who grows into who they are, and owns it. The album, although not chronological, is somewhat autobiographical. Throughout the title track, we try to blur the line between playing in duple and triple meter, and eventually get into a chacarera sort of feel that does exactly that. It doesn't hurt that Jim Piela plays an incredibly beautiful solo that makes us stop worrying about what meter we're in. The second track, No 3, is a feature for our drummer, Josh Bailey. The rest of the band holds out chords (voiced without the third), giving him plenty of space to play freely. The top voice of the chord progression spells out what I call the 'colorado yeta' melody, which also appears in the intro to Casquito, and in a way prepares the listener for it. - Michael Sarian

Tracklist:
01. León
02. No. 3
03. Casquito
04. Your Words
05. Colorado Yeta
06. No. 3 (Locust St. Remix)