Music Review: Pistolera - 'En Este Camino'

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New York based Pistolera is a group that’s difficult to pigeonhole. They tend to do things their own way - self-releasing their first album Siempre Hay Salida (Always A Way Out), dressing in turn-of-the-century Mexican attire and opting to sing in Spanish, although all 4 musicians are U.S. citizens and could easily perform in English. Their lyrics range from politically provocative to light-hearted and thoughtful. And then there’s the music: an original fusion of popular Mexican genres like cumbia and norteno with pop/rock and an in-your-face sound that’s not overproduced and makes you feel like you’re attending a local fiesta.

Pistolera is almost an all-girl band, consisting of founder and front woman Sandra Lilia Velasquez (guitar, lead vocals), Ani Cordero on drums, Maria Elena on accordion/keyboards and the token male, Inca B. Satz on bass. En Este Camino (On This Road) is the group’s sophomore album; Velasquez wrote most of the songs.

Many of these songs are political, dealing with the life and trials of immigrants, although they're more philosophical than strident. “Policia” is a song about constantly getting harassed by the police but it’s done to an upbeat cumbia. In “Etranjero” the band sings about the cultural confusion of and towards the newly arrived and reminds the listener that most of our families were immigrants at one time or another. There’s also a nice Spanish-language version of Bob Marley’s “War” (“Guerra”).

On the other hand, there are whimsical tracks like the breakout single “Nuevos Ojos” that talks about taking a fresh look around you to hand clapping and lovely harmony or the horn-heavy oom-pa-pa of “Eres Tu”, a love song.

The album is all-around lively, thoughtful, fun and different.