LA punk/emo/whatever they want to be rock band Spanish Love Songs have just released the third single off their next release, Brave Faces Etc., which includes remade versions of the tracks off their 2020 release Brave Faces Everyone along with the original tracks. The third track released from this “remake” album of sorts is their song Dolores.
This is by far the hardest hitting one off the original album, and the remake just twists the knife a little bit more. The haunting lyrics surround the reality of school shootings and gun violence in America in a horribly real way. Singer Dylan Slocum’s vocals sit perfectly in the track and frame the subject matter in a serious and mildly matter-of-fact way as opposed to other songs that dance around the tragedies described in “Dolores”. To Slocum and many other US citizens, these things happen every single day. The idea of sirens echoing down a school hallway becoming a usual thing gives goosebumps to those familiar with these crimes. The highlight of this song is the bleakness of the lyrics combined with the calling out of politicians giving their “thoughts and prayers” to victims instead of doing something about gun violence in the US. This may be the pinnacle of how Spanish Love Songs’ lyrics don’t always hit on the “I’m so sad” sentiment but how they hit the “this is reality and it’s horribly dreary and grim” that so many of us have been feeling for the past two years due to COVID-19.
Be sure to check out Spanish Love Songs new album Brave Faces Etc. when it drops on April 15th, 2022 and catch them on The Wonder Years US tour this March.
