Alvaro Rubio – Do You Hear The Colors? (Album Review)

Do You Hear The Colors? is a nine-track album by Alvaro Rubio, a Madrid-born experimental singer-songwriter and producer.

Starting us off on the album is ‘Nectar’. On this song, we meet a character who remarks that machines are cutting down their forest – ‘machines are cutting down my forest’. Although this tree cutting is a concern to the character, they say that they’ll never go as they need to stay in their garden. They wonder who would take care of the birds in their absence.

An airy, stringy wash drifts in, opening the song with a minimalistic touch. The string sound is soon taken over by the guitar – this sound is then embellished by sounds you might hear of air creatures. In this case, Alvaro has recreated how forests sound.

This sound, however, changes when some rock and roll-like drums are introduced. Another remarkable fact sonically is that there’s some human whistling in the song. Instrumentally, the sound is lush.

Alvaro Rubio sings in a falsetto voice, giving the song an expressive feel. Lyrically, there’s some vulnerability going on: the character admits that although they think that they say they don’t miss anything, they do not know how to lie, and they also express their desire to be believed.

The forest and nature theme aside, the character also talks of a certain she they yearn for but seems to elude them.

Up next is ‘Lady of Marble’. The falsetto here is lower, and it sounds as if Alvaro Rubio is singing from a distance. Nature is again sonically recreated: there’s a watery sound, and bird sounds come through. And again, we get some drums. Here, the understated but satisfying drums and the forest recreation sounds gel together. The instrumental vocals are impressive here, but the lyrics suffer when it comes to piecing them together.

You can hear the lyrics alright in the next song, ‘There’s No Thing Such As’. The song starts with a spoken question: ‘Do you wanna play a game?’ Then there’s talk of ‘so much fun’, a glitching sound introduced here. Lyrically, a lonely voice torments our character. Their world dissolves and blurs. Finding that the world is much easier living without eyes, they retreat into a wall of skin. This is conceptually amazing, although it speaks to the invisibility that they seem to have accepted. Vocally, the falsetto pitch has more weight.

Up next is ‘Biking’. There’s a grunge feel to the song, and the vocals drown under the instrumentals. This changes for a bit, when the lush sounds are replaced when some piano keys take over, and we hear our character talking about closing their eyes and crying. But the lush sounds are soon back, the piano returning at some point afterwards. Soundwise, the song is experimental as later on we hear some ethereal choral sound.

Up next is ‘Child’s Play’. The birds and sky creatures’ sounds start us on the song, and then there’s the tinkling bell reminiscent of an ice cream truck, but it doesn’t stay for long as a throbbing, monotonous bass drum plays. The instruments play continuously on this song without vocals. It’s a glitchy bass sound you get, although that bass soon goes away.

‘Eucalyptus’ follows. Again, we’re in a forest. While the lyrics drown beneath the soft string guitar sounds, there’s some ethereal vocals going on. Vocals, strings and wind instruments carry the song; however, a dip in the sound near the end induces catharsis.

Up next is ‘You Can’t See Me’. On this song, our character’s talks about a ‘she’ whose mind they love. Their head is melting through the clouds, we hear, and our character could stay and watch them for hours, this she too young too understand. Guitar and bell-like instrumentals make up the sound. At the end of the song, the refrain ‘Need her’ is repeatedly sung.

Drums, however, return on ‘A Letter to Rose’.  There’s tension between our character and Rose. Rose is talking to another guy, and our character does not want to lose them. This is a tearjerker, Rose having promised them to be always by their side.

‘Imaginary Friends’ closes off the album. Bell-like sounds (much like how ‘I Stand Accused’ by Isaac Hayes begins) start the song, glitch-like instrumentals pitching in. But this sound soon evaporates, with video-game like coming in, and then some vocals taking over. The song goes through radio sounds – at times feeling like a different song, ends with a sound that feels like crickets.

SCORE/Excellent: This is an excellent album. Alvaro Rubio comes across as a musician who enjoys expressing himself – vocally and instrumentally. It’s a fun album, and although there are explorations of the nasty side of life, Alvaro Rubio seems to keep his head above the clouds. Sonically, the instrumentals are at times hypnotic and at times liberating. You are bound to lose yourself in them. The musician should however put more effort in the articulation of the lyrics in order not to require much effort on the listener’s part.

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