Best of What's Next: Hello Seahorse!

Hometown: Mexico City
Band Members: Lo Blondo (vocals), Bonnz! (drums), Oro de Neta (bass, keyboard)
Album: Bestia
For Fans Of: Los Campesinos!, Voxtrot, The Killers

Born in California and raised in Mexico, Hello Seahorse! lead singer Lo Blondo has the enviable ability to hopscotch between Spanish and English. With her bilingual skills in tow, she and bandmates Bonnz! and Oro de Neta have developed a small catalog of twee-tinged tunes, each song delivered in its proper linguistic vehicle—Lo Blondo is adamant about not forcing her lyrics to fall on a particular side of the border. “I just like to give the song what it needs and what comes out naturally,” she says.

For its third album, Bestia (out now), Hello Seahorse! deemed that the songs needed to be sung in Spanish all the way through—a first for the band. The trio also pushed themselves beyond the cutesy tinge of indie-pop that had defined their previous two albums, venturing into a world of heavier synthesizers, textured vocals and more concentrated drum beats. “I don’t know if our sound is any more mature,” Lo Blondo says. “Just less playful and more present.”

The title track of Bestia (in English, “beast”) opens the album with growls and squawks of unknown animals, and though there are references to lions and polar bears throughout, the record’s themes reach deeper than the wild kingdom. “We all have something inside of us that is dark and negative,” Lo Blondo says, and Bestia seeks to articulate those untamed, oft-misunderstood feelings in word and sound. Though the band’s new musical focus yields lyrics that are well-matched with the atmospheric instrumentation that supports it, Hello Seahorse! has crafted one of those marvelous albums where common language is not necessary for emotional connection. The band believes a person’s native tongue should never hinder their ability to appreciate a tune. “Music is its own language," Lo Blondo says. "There have been many times where I don’t understand the words to a song, and yet I am still able to see it grow and relate my own sentiments to it.”

Still, Hello Seahorse!’s full immersion into Spanish has been met with some resistance. “There are people who say ‘I live in America. I want my music in English,‘” Lo Blondo says. The group, too, has had to combat the ever looming stereotypes of what Mexican music should sound like—mariachi with salsa on the side. But such criticism is easier to shrug off when the band is on tour. So far, they’ve been warmly greeted by those who appreciate their linguistic roots. “I have been struck with the amount of Latinos there are in the U.S. that come to our shows. They are so welcoming of us and that’s just incredible,” Lo Blondo says. “It makes me feel at home.”