In 2009 a song called ‘Better Tomorrow’ introduced the world – well, Spain – to Vega’s ‘Metamorfosis’. A few years later, a song called ‘Better Tomorrow’ introduces the world – well, Spain – to Alba Reche’s new album.
Apart from the lead single title and their participation in Operación Triunfo, 16 years apart, few other things unite Vega and Alba Reche. We can talk about their beautiful and distinctive voices, but if Reche’s musical style is to be compared to that of the Cordoba singer, we must travel as far back as her debut, the one that brought influences from jazz.
‘Better Tomorrow’, Reche’s single, is a kind of lullaby of heartbreak with influences from jazz and cabaret in its instrumentation, where the presence of delicate xylophone percussion, hypnotic keyboards and enveloping strings stands out. Reche’s smoky vocals are the song’s best asset, swaying over the lush instrumentation as if Reche were trying to hypnotize herself.
At times, the melody could perhaps be more defined and a little more dynamic, but Reche captivates with her vocal performance and with a palette of vintage and timeless sounds that offers a pop proposal that is not so common – certainly not in mainstream pop -, with a cabaretesque but at the same time dreamy air.
“Where is all the desire to spend life with me, why act as if nothing happened” is one of the passages that define the meaning of ‘Better tomorrow’. Reche asks that the other person “avoid his face” and not “say anything,” clinging with a certain desperation and resignation to the last thread that connects her to the other.
According to the press release, “the song delves into the emotional distance within a relationship that is fading, but it does so from an almost suspended place, where the important thing is not what is said, but what remains floating between two people.” The song, floating and ethereal, is a while.
