Hi, everyone. Brainthony Draintano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Silvana Estrada record, Vendrán Suaves Lluvias.

Here we have the latest full-length album from Mexico's Silvana Estrada, an immensely talented singer and songwriter whose music I think has been going underappreciated for a minute. Even I was playing catch-up in a way, as my first introduction to her music was through her second album, Marchita, in 2022: a killer folk album with a lot of intimate, beautiful performances; seemingly homespun production, or at least a lot of ambient room sound in the recording that makes you feel like you're there; and singing throughout this record that will just have you on the edge of your seat. While the instrumentation and presentation on this record is generally pretty stark and very bare, here and there throughout the tracklist, you will get hit with these really tasteful, well-placed instrumental arrangements that just add so much to the song and do a lot with a little.

Marchita, to my ears, was nothing short of captivating. It still is, but I've always felt the reception could have been a lot bigger, which is why, personally, I have been pleased to see there being a little bit more press coverage behind Vendrán Suaves Lluvias here. More reviews and interviews, even recently a Tiny Desk concert, which seems so far to be very well received.

However, I feel like this push to raise Silvana's visibility with this LP is also coming with her safest and most agreeable set of songs to date.

At the core of this album, I still do think there's a lot to celebrate. We have a bunch of good quality songs. Vocally, I still think Silvana is one of the best in her lane today, too. There are also a lot of focused lyrics across this record dealing in heartbreak and longing. Seemingly, it is a breakup album of sorts; though, that breakup reads a lot more like a slow, painful death where you are coming to the realization that this love that you're in is unrequited, as opposed to a big, explosive breakdown.

This is all well and good, but the fact remains that the instrumentation and production across these songs, especially in comparison with Silvana's past two projects, just sounds very polite, very inoffensive, as agreeable as what you might find on some coffeehouse folk CD that you'd pick up at the counter near the cash register in 2007 — which, for sure is not the worst direction a singer-songwriter can take on an album of this style.

It's really not my personal preference, but I can definitely see aesthetic parallels with peak Iron & Wine records or Nick Drake's Bryter Layter era, maybe even a bit of Devotchka, too. If these are sounds and records that you go gaga for, I think this Silvana project is going to have a lot that you want to hear.

Look, in its current state, there are still highlights that I can't deny, like "Lila Alelí" with its gently danceable rhythm guitars and the way Silvana's vocals lock in with some very bright, chipper, lively harmonies and horn sections, too. The opening track is a standout and feels especially live and in the moment, especially when you can hear Silvana giggling to herself during a little break in the midst of the song before the band gently tiptoes into the final leg of it. Also, the drama of "Good Luck, Good Night" absolutely cannot be denied. It's got this slow, lumbering beat; ominous, droney chords; and Silvana's most fiery vocal performance on the entire record. But look, even during passionate peaks such as this in the tracklist, it still sounds like Silvana and her band are trying to get away without breaking a noise ordinance.

The night and day difference in intensity and passion isn't just clear from the vocal performances alone on her last record. The gap is even wider when you compare it to Silvana's collab album with Charlie Hunter back from 2017, which was super jazz-influenced.

While one could argue this new record, in a way, is more calculated and elegant, simultaneously, I don't find as eventful or as gripping as anything Silvana has done thus far. Again, with Marchita being as stripped back as it is in some points, whenever I put a song on from that record, to me, time just stops. I just don't get that same sensation from Vendrán, especially on tracks like "Flores" — where you have super faint drumming, Disney-style string sections— which makes Silvana feel like she's reining in her vocal abilities a bit just to fit in with how mild everything else sounds. This is why I'm feeling a strong 6 to a light 7 on this new record.

Anthony Fantano. Silvana Estrada. Forever.