The Album of the Week prior to Christmas Day has been ‘cerodenero’, the new work by IZARO. It makes a lot of sense that ‘cerodenero’ came out in winter. On the one hand, the promotional photos show Izaro Andrés sheltered as if she were in the Himalayas themselves. The white of the snow is blinding. On the other hand, the first song – after the intro – already looks “to the north.”
‘Iparraldera’, “to the north” in Basque (and one of the most beautiful words in this language), opens ‘cerodenero’ -after the intro- in the key of a ballad. The influence of 90s dream-pop is evident in an instrumentation that seems inspired by the Sundays. The vocal melody, on the other hand, captures this Cranberries-specific melancholy of ‘Linger’.
IZARO, a voice absolutely his own, strong as a soldier when he wants, as in the ballad ‘aguacero’, included on the same album, shows in ‘Iparraldera’ his most vulnerable and dreamy side. In the lyrics he goes from disorientation (“the years go by, and I don’t know if I want to continue going in the same direction”) to the definitive search for a place “where all souls straighten out.” And that, yes, it is located to the north, where IZARO keeps “a house”, a refuge like the one in another song on his disco.
Determined to “not lose the north”, IZARO seems to accept her status as a nomad in the world, typical of her profession, when she sings that “I would be from any other place, if I had been born there, and I want to see all the places, to feel thousands of versions of me. The melody of ‘Iparraldera’ is loaded with all that melancholy and longing that, perhaps, IZARO has felt being far from home. A very Christmassy nostalgia, on the other hand, even though the song came out before.
