Isla de Caras is a quintet from Buenos Aires that has been active since 2017. Carefully amassing a sound that is halfway between indie-pop and dream-pop, Isla de Caras is not exactly a revelation band, as it has three albums already published, but no fan of cult groups like Men I Trust or Pearly Drops should miss it.
The dreamy sound of Isla de Caras is permeated by both guitars and keyboards. The lo-fi synth-pop of ‘Your drug favorite’ can become your favorite drug, the “easy disco” of ‘Despacio’ is just as captivating, ‘Pertanaire’ dares with textures close to Morcheeba, and the echoes of Real Estate or Youth Lagoon are evident in ‘Todo el Universo’, another of their star songs.
With its three released albums, ‘Chango’ (2018), ‘Una caricia’ (2021) and ‘Gran Turismo’ (2023), Isla de Caras has gained a large audience, especially in Latin America. Some of his singles, like ‘Despacio’ or ‘Pertanaire’, have several million listens on Spotify alone. And ‘Chango’ has been released in physical format on the Japanese label P-Vine, which has called the album “a South American masterpiece, an indie-pop paradise”, according to his official biography.
Closing 2023, Isla de Caras has just published a new epé under the umbrella of the distributor OneRPM. The mini-disc is called ‘Stolen Flowers’ because it is made up of versions, being an obvious tribute to Hispanic pop of all stripes. The Buenos Aires group is not going easy. In their hands, ‘Si tú no Volveres’ by Miguel Bosé and Shakira seems like it’s from Cigarettes After Sex, and the group can’t take ‘Te Olvidaste’ by C. Tangana and Omar Apollo any further into its territory, without giving up its traditional base.
‘Stolen Flowers’ includes other curious versions of ‘Dame’ by Luis Miguel and ‘My Story in Your Hands’ by Gianluca Grigani, as well as two original cuts from Isla de Caras, ‘Todo el Universo’ with BLAIR and the demo of ‘Culto of voyeurs’.
