Look Mexico – Uniola

Look Mexico have now been with us for over a decade, this Florida quintet have previously released two albums and a handful of EP’s in addition to their relentless and widespread touring schedule. Uniola is Look Mexico‘s third full length album, their first for Tiny Engines Records, this is the band’s first release since their 2011 release, Real Americans Spear It EP, that was released on Adeline Records.

Uniola is a hard album to pin down, there are so many influences on here you couldn’t pigeonhole Look Mexico if you tried, snatches of math rock riffs sit happily alongside laid back indie stylings, garage rock riffs and the even the odd hint of power pop, quite often all of these will be found in the same song. The math rock influence could be due to the fact that the drummer for San Antonio’s Jonah Vin, Gary Battreall, plays drums on this release, there are strong links between these two geographically disparate bands as Ryan Slate has appeared on their releases and this appears to have led to some cross contamination between the two acts. They certainly don’t go in for snappy song titles, titles like Ice? Yeah, You Could Chisel Some Off Your Heart, If You Could Find It and My Superman Seat-Grab Barrel Roll? I’m Still Working On It are evidence of a tendency for prolongation when it comes to naming their songs

The vocal delivery reminds me of Alex Turner of The Arctic Monkeys, and they will appeal to fans of that band as Look Mexico are an intelligent and original indie rock act that defy expectations. Whilst this is a well made and original album I find it’s not an album that has an obvious appeal, they have their own style and sound and all the elements are present that should make this a fine album yet it doesn’t quite seem to hit the spot, the intricate guitar riffs and constant genre hopping lead to Uniola washing over you, albeit in a rather pleasant manner, rather than grabbing you and demanding your attention.

Uniola can be ordered from Tiny Engines Records here