With so much music at our disposal in the streaming era, it can all get a little repetitive. Every track starts to blend together- making good music tough to stand out. Recently, I came across a song on Soundcloud, leading me down the rabbit hole to an album I had never heard before; Para Mi by Cuco. Cuco is a 21-year old kid from California, and this album is his debut. Cuco handles all the production on the album, as well as vocals, boasting extreme talent on both fronts.
Coming in at 13 songs and 38 minutes, it fits right where I love an album to be. The work flows beautifully, opening with ‘Keeping Tabs’ and ‘Bossa No Se’. The latter is such a fun, bouncy track with electronic keys and a nice feature verse from Jean Carter talking love issues. Most of the album is dreamy love songs over what feels like bedroom pop beats. ‘Perihelion’ sounds like what laying on a cloud feels like, each song sounds dreamier than the last. There is something about keyboard over spacey instrumentals. Layered with lyrics like “Another day, another life, I need someone Hold my hand, baby, don’t let go. For the ocean will give us what we know”.
‘Hydrocodone’ is the first song of Cuco’s I was introduced to and it is still one of my favorites. He sings about wishing the one he loved, loved him back. It’s sappy but sounds so gorgeous, and lyrically is one of his strongest. Cuco is constantly in and out of a trip it seems as he bounces from ego deaths to ounces of shrooms. The life of the weary traveler he seems to be constantly divulging in psychedelics as an escape within the madness, typically leading to more madness, but he plays it cool. ‘Best Friend’ is a great example of him playing it cool, as he knows it might be ending but still offering to be there forever, the curse of the best friend.
The album is gorgeous top to bottom. At first, you’ll be hooked with the beats and sounds, but as you listen you’ll start to fall for the lyrics. Cuco has done an amazing job bringing each song together as an album. Every track brings something to the table and I am going to have this one on replay for a while.
Favorite Tracks: Bossa No Se, Hydrocodone, Far Away From Home
