THE CONCEPT

As the years pass, it only becomes more and more evident how 2020 was a watershed moment for contemporary society. Equally so for Lucid Den, the Monterrey-based recording project (first, a duo, then a trio, now officially a solo project) has experienced what's probably its biggest conceptual transformation since its inception: that of its worldview. While "Astropunk" and "Ice Storm X" dealt mainly with introspective teenage fantasies, "33 1/3" turns outwards and explores its relationship with the real world, turning away from idealism and into the harsh reality of the late-stage third-world capitalist experience. Wrapped in a convincingly kitschy psychedelic aesthetic inspired by Shibuya-kei and 90s dance music, Lucid Den's third studio effort is filled to the brim with colorful sample-and-breakbeat compositions, quickly introduced to catch your ear then almost immediately juxtaposed with black-and-white lyrics about mass media brainwashing the population and the eternal struggle of the working class (culture jamming and détournement come to mind), much like an advertising billboard vandalized to have its core message subverted. A protest record disguised as harmless dance-pop, the album as a whole reads like an hour inside Otrembu Eio's mind, switching between thoughts like radio stations, wildly varying from one to the next nonstop, but also like an argumentative essay, laying out an attractive introduction, expanding on ideas while keeping them accessible, and finally calling energetically to action, all before coming down from the manic high and contemplating on more personal topics in the more mellow second half of the album. This sweet-and-sour combination rarely turns bittersweet or overly emotional, though, as Otrembu switches between a heartfelt and passionate delivery when adequate ("Ya no mas", "Sol rojo") and a somewhat detached, merely observational, almost ironic tone during some of the album's more politically heated moments ("Balneario cerebral", "Revolución", "Fiesta internacional"), sometimes the two mixed in the same song ("Estar así", "Llegó el verano"), keeping things quite balanced.

THE LYRICS

"33 1/3" is also notable for being Lucid Den's, a Mexican project, first album in their native language, as a result of performing live in their hometown and seeing fans repeatedly ask for translations to their lyrics. And somehow, it feels as if it was always meant to be that way. Wholly written and performed by Otrembu Eio (except for two guitar contributions by founding member Dark Gen, aka Polygon Kid), the wordplay, metaphors and visual-heavy writing that were a highlight of previous works are successfully transported to a new language with very few losses. Gone are the cutesy love fantasies of "Sun Prism" or "Summer Blue" and the sci-fi disco of "The Light" or "Binary Star", replaced instead with paranoid surrealist poetry ("El error", "Balneario cerebral"), incendiary dissertations on contemporary society ("What's Going On", "Revolución", "Sol rojo") and existential cries for help disguised as lazy summer anthems ("Llegó el verano", "Estar así"). Not shy to use Mexican regionalisms and reference places and events only regiomontanos would understand, Otrembu is eager to let *you* know you are listening to "Radio Lucid 191.7 FM", broadcasting clandestinely from Monterrey, Mexico, with 8 billion watts of power (what is Earth's current population again?). While the language remains accessible and unpretentious, the message often varies from highly agreeable to highly confrontational, clearly aiming for an audience that will readily co-sign "33 1/3"'s manifesto instead of trying to please literally everyone. Only a few traces of English remain in this album, including the entirety of "Winter Fun", a leftover from the album's first English-language draft. Song structures, similarly to their previous efforts, lean towards the standard verse-chorus form, which serves to give a familiar, digestible structure to the semantically dense, sometimes bizarre lyrics and exuberant electronic arrangements that abound in the album.

THE MUSIC

Every new Lucid Den album seems to be a deliberate attempt at a fresh start for the band, a trend confirmed with the sonic palette choices on this new album. Leaving behind the ornate analog synth arrangements of "Ice Storm X" –except for very punctual examples–, "33 1/3" is a love letter to early 90's vinyl sampling, the TR-909 drum machine and multi-layered break beat loops. Even the mixing sounds rudimentary and lo-fi, fully intended to emulate the production of the time period Otrembu Eio has hyper-fixated on this time. After the soft retro piano ballad intro of "Celebraciones", featuring our sole example of vocodered lyrics in the entire album, we leave conventional songwriting behind completely, crashing head first into a maximalist sound collage/rave workout complete with vintage choirs, football chants, brass hits and a mock radio announcer. And if that's not enough of a start, surely the hypnotic Animal Collective-esque loop of "El error", followed by the cheeky big-beat rocker "What's Going On" –complete with old-school synth guitar solo–, topped by the euphoric shoegaze breakbeat sing-along "Balneario cerebral" will satiate your need for a grand first act. It feels as if Otrembu has loaded up a heavy-duty sonic recycling machine with a myriad of old records from a multitude of genres, ground them into flakes, glued them together, and used this as raw material to build a brand-new psychedelic stage to play on. You might find anything from hints of soul, blues and doo-wop, to bits of huapango and swing, to full-on sunshine pop, trip hop, and good old Lucid Den synthpop in-between the Homework-esque beats and vocal harmonies; it's all in there. Other highlights include the short but frantic drum collage of "Manía", the Daft Punk-esque sampling on "Sol rojo", the instrumental trip hop exploration of "Tema de 33 1/3" (reminiscent of Air's "Le Voyage De Penelope"), the 60's easy listening dance number of "Rayo", the Smash Mouth-meets-Pizzicato Five pop rock track "Ice Cream Truck Crash", and the easy-going piano-led pre-closer "Sol rojo en el sueño". Suffice to say that, while completely different to previous works in both production and composition, "33 1/3" not only delivers but also surpasses expectations, with a tasteful experimentalist ethic and socially conscious theme that reaffirms Lucid Den's intention of being "Monterrey's Most Experimental Band".