Melenas are an all female quartet hailing from Pamplona, Navarre in the North-East of Spain.
Throughout the years they have released three studio albums with the perfect mix of pop-synth and garage. First coming onto the scene in 2016, the group played various stages at Spanish festival slots like Primavera sound and have continued to prove themselves as competent all-rounders ever since.
Melena's career
As it becomes easier and easier to access music from all around the world and we see genres such as Reggaeton and K-pop start to become some of the most internationally loved genres worldwide, there is no doubt that music has the ability to transcend all language barriers.
Although Melenas sing for the most part in Spanish, around 2017 they were picked up by Chicago based label Trouble in Mind bringing their music to an international audience. Revealing in an interview with DIY magazine, for them, the creative process always begins with making their rhythms and melodies instrumentally and finally adding lyrics at the end. Through their process, it is clear why the feeling of their music shines through regardless of language.
Any listener can easily get lost in their hypnotising and atmospheric melodies and feel the power of their instrumental sections as the girls take turns to show us their skills, with grungy guitar hooks and instrumental sections where the keys can shine. Vocally, Melenas music can be summed up by Post Trash magazine, “it is difficult to argue with the beauty of a band in which four women sing together like this”.
Additionally, throughout their albums the group has woven in occasional lyrics in Euskera, showing us they are embracing their cultural identity and showing it to the world. With only around a million euskaldunak (Euskera speaker), it is lovely to see a group embrace both spanish and Euskera as a vehicle that revives old traditions and creates new ones.
Musically, their synth- pop sound brings their dreamy, atmospheric rhythms that dance upon the beat, melodic singing that puts the listener unto a trance like state. Their guitar hooks bring a psychedelic element that perfectly mix with their pop sensibilities to remind us they know how to rock.
As the Spanish music scene continues to gain popularity, there is nothing better for a first-time listener new to the scene than the experimental and sweet melodies of Melenas. The girls show us the beauty of singing in your native tongue and expressing your culture no matter what, their power and message is in their music.
You can listen to Melenas here: