With four albums already released and countless concerts under their belt, Asma is one of those bands where intense, expansive rock contrasts beautifully with melody. Although the Cantabrian duo began their career a decade ago, the evolution captured in their latest albums and -especially- in 2021’s «El tiempo no sabe quién eres», has cemented their unique place as songwriters who captivate listeners with each listen. Now Almudena La Torre (Emilio Manso) and Juan Aguirre (Mapa mudo, Bañaperros, El primer hombre, No) are releasing their fifth studio album, entitled «Fantasma», which was recorded partly at Estudio Brazil with Javier Ortiz in Madrid and partly at Estudios Terraforma with Ibán Pérez in Hio.
Although the initial impact comes from the sonic explosion, behind its forcefulness there is a certain relief, which will be revealed throughout the songs with masterful restraint. «Fantasma» is an album about absence, about people who have been part of your life and then disappear, and as such, the band articulates this control of the edges of their sound in order to express the emotion and uncertainty that comes with living with and understanding the idea of emptiness.
The album begins with an explicitly dark track, «Tanto tiempo». It is a song about how, with time and everything around us, friendships can gradually erode. Then «Palabras» refers to discussion as a dialectic in which a point of no return can be reached, after which only silence and distance allow us to move forward. «Siempre» delves into the feeling of loneliness, before reaching «Gente normal». This song fantasises about the existence of a genuine and normatively ‘normal’ person, and whether that person is isolated behind a social wall that prevents them from expressing themselves fully. Side A ends with the instrumental «No tengas miedo» and side B begins with a call to transcend our pre-established roles: «La noche despierto». This is followed by «Lo que quiero decir», which recognises the limits of language and the challenge of communication, leading to «Misterio», about how to deal with the impetus of anxiety. As we approach the end of the album, a second instrumental track of the same name brings us down to «Tierra». This is a song about death and its vital importance in understanding the spectre of absence as a reference point for our existence.
