The Marías
Submarine
NICE LIFE/ATLANTIC
After dropping their debut album Cinema back in 2021, The Marías established themselves as an indie darling not only in the American mainstream but also in Latin America, joining a wave of Latinx acts like Cuco, Omar Apollo, and Boy Pablo who’ve been able to break through into the mainstream and gain a wide appeal from both English- and Spanish-speaking audiences. In 2022 The Marías even made a superfan out of Bad Bunny, with the band’s vocalist Maria Zardoya joining the rapper on a track from his Un Verano Sin Ti LP while songs from Cinema were still being cemented into summer Spotify playlists everywhere.
The Marías create languid and floaty dream pop that perfectly balances Zardoya’s breathy, Hope Sandoval–esque singing style with atmospheric guitar and synths reverbed to perfection. However, when comparing their newly released second album Submarine with their early Superclean EP series, it’s evident that their sound has been slowly changing. What started as a bedroom-pop sprout has bloomed into a full-fledged pop group. Submarine perfectly captures this new iteration and showcases the group’s ability to experiment with genres like electronica, jazz, and R&B and incorporate them pleasantly into a more polished sophisti-pop style. “Ay no puedo” even sounds like it could be on an album made by their pal Benito, with its clave rhythm recalling the Puerto Rican rapper’s music.
Submarine is both catchy and moody, and it captivates listeners from the very start. The brief opening track “Ride” is reminiscent of Daft Punk with its use of vocoder-like effects. From there, the record smoothly transitions to the lively rhythm of “Hamptons,” which is paired with mellow vocals that give it a dancy but floaty feel—the perfect mood-setter for a daytime rooftop party during a sweltering hot summer day. Lyrically, much of Submarine deals with a troubled on-and-off relationship, the most compelling bit coming from the song “Paranoia,” wherein Zardoya sings about a lover who’s so possessive that it’s pushing her away. The lush production obscures the darker aspects of the song’s content, however, and the minor feel of the melody encapsulates the sense that something is off.
Submarine ends strong with “Sienna,” in which Zardoya fantasizes about a future where she stayed in a past relationship and started a family. It sounds like a song you might hear during the final shot of a tragic romcom where the protagonist sees a couple nearby with a child and projects a fantasy of what could’ve been, slowly walking away toward the distance with a sense of uncertainty and possibility. Despite the lyrics across the album tending to be overpowered by complex arrangements and production, Submarine is still a quality effort by the group, and it shows what The Marías are capable of musically.
