Cooper - Tiempo, Temperatura, Agitación (2018) [Hi-Res]

Tiempo, Temperatura and Agitación are the three key parameters to keep in mind when you’re dealing with traditional film developing in photography. The developing process requires an artisanal meticulousness with the use of these factors, and they can change depending on the type of film, the maker, etc. and they can make a big difference in the final result. We imagine that fans of Álex Diez understand this perfectly. Because the three variables that give this new album its name (the fifth full-length with COOPER), reflect key aspects to his way of understanding music and, why not, the world: details, craftwork, passion and being careful with everything analogue and vintage.

But let’s take this analysis a little further. What does photography have to do with all this? What is Álex trying to tell us with this concept of the instantaneous image that is developed slowly? We’re going to explain our own personal theory. Álex is a huge fan of photography, and it’s also possible that the message hides the idea of an album as a snapshot of an artist at a specific moment in time, a reflection of what he is personally and artistically, here and now. And maybe the message is about how difficult it is to achieve a final result you’re satisfied with; it’s the same as with traditional film developing – there are so many different factors that need your closest attention in order to get the desired result.

If we follow this line of thought, we can almost say that Álex Diez is enjoying a second youth; in this image we can see renewed freshness and vitality. On “Tiempo, Temperatura, Agitación” we have a collection of hits like we haven’t had in years. “El Último Tren” opens things strong, with a metal section that will be with us in many moments of the album, raising the soul spirit, and with Álex’s and Mario’s guitars radiating electricity with a blinding energy. And then we move on to “Salto”, a personal trademark: solid, fast, just reading the name of the song makes you dizzy. Soul-pop rhythm, saturated but defined guitars, Dani’s bass full of groove, intravenous vitamins. Infallible. “Ya Llegó El Verano” confirms our theory about Álex’s second youth: luminous, pure, optimistic pop that reminds us of some of his best songs, like “Cerca Del Sol” and “Entre Girasoles”. “Graciela” steps on the distortion pedal and stays true to the solidness, and is in line with what we’ve heard up to now, ready to become another bull’s eye that will clearly be on the set-list of his live shows for many years to come. It’s a new story of rebellious girls who are looking for their own path and a break from their current lives, who leave everything behind. “Luz” is a melancholic mid-tempo, sweet and luminous, with chords vibrating clean and clear.

On “Islandia” we find ourselves with a new treatise for pop – vigorous, elegant, and with an especially energetic voice. Did you say THE POSIES? GUIDED BY VOICES? We were talking about a snapshot and this song is Álex Diez: incredible places to run away to, where you can have new adventures, and discover new paths. “Infinito” (more power-pop) and “Provisional” (more garage) make it clear: he never lost his sense for those great choruses, catchy songs and brilliant pop.

And now there’s a twist. It couldn’t all be so easy. There are two final songs to close the album with a surprising, emotional, absolutely amazing turn. So far we barely reached an average of three minutes per song, and suddenly we find ourselves with five minutes of dirty, tribal funk, infected with Curtis Mayfield and Madchester acid echoes: “Dos Grados Bajo Cero”. It’s a hallucinogenic song that suddenly lets the air in (though the sun never left) with a bridge where the voice makes its presence know, where we unexpectedly hear something of LE MANS’ ray of light, only to go right back into lysergic dance. Incredible. So then, where are we, really?

And then you get to “Telarañas” and it tears you apart. It’s a song for memory and remembering, cradled between exceptional string arrangements. Is this photograph a story about the need to remember? Of not letting anything be forgotten?

The song that has been selected to be the first advance single of the album is “Infinito”, which is an instant classic in the group’s repertoire right from the first listen, and comes with a fantastic video by AfterliVe, plagued with images of Barcelona, the “new city” the song’s lyrics allude to. Just like on the rest of the album, “Infinito” drinks from the waters of the sonic fountain of youth. Fresh, impetuous, passionate, energetic. The return of the New Wave spirit, updated and brought into our time.

Any way you look at it, “Tiempo, Temperatura, Agitación” is an exceptional album, maybe one of the best in all of Álex Diez’s career, if not the best, where he has collaborated on production again with Eugenio Muñoz, whom he worked with both in COOPER and in LOS FLECHAZOS. Ten songs that will stir things up in concert, that will make the most steadfast hearts vibrate, and surprise new fans with COOPER’s absolute ability to excite. It will be released in digital format, on CD Digipak, and on purple, 600-copy numbered-limited-edition vinyl. Don’t miss it!