Something new and unfamiliar tonight, and I thought I would share it with you in the spirit of discovery. Repion is a three-piece Alternative/Power Trio/Indie band from Santander, a small town on the north coast of Spain, near Bibao. The band consists of sisters Teresa and Marina Iñesta. Teresa is the drummer and sings – Marina is the singer and guitarist. They are joined by Diego Garcia on bass. Together they put out some pretty astonishing and surprisingly well-defined music. Marina has a voice with huge range and tons of emotion – she hits every high note with total ease and knows her way around power chords. Teresa is a kick-ass drummer. Not that looks are deceiving, but there is a certain bespectacled charm that belies the powerhouse behind the kick-drum. In a way, she reminds me of the drumming equivalent of bassist Tal Wilkenfeld (Jeff Beck‘s astonishing bassist from a few years ago).
So I ran across this session a few days ago, via Radio Nacional España’s Radio 3 website. And as I always do, hit “play” and listen to what happens. It’s a practice I’ve gotten into the past 30+ years and it seems to work out quite well, and often leads to amazing results. This is one of them. I’ve been listening to them the better part of the day today and am still pretty knocked out.
They’ve been together since 2011 – are released their second album in coming out in a few days and they’ve been making brief forays into venues around Spain (they’ve been staying pretty much in the Santander area, gigging around local clubs). But clearly, they are ready for bigger things. They are a tight group and they are an accomplished group – and I suspect they should be gathering fans and audiences outside their home turf very soon.
It would be great to see how they would do in a setting such as SXSW or The New Music Seminar in New York, or even Hotel Cafe here in Holllywood – a place where they can do what they do and not feel pressure to change anything (all their songs are in Spanish – which is fine and you should have no problem with it, right?). I have a hunch it will great to see what 2017 brings for them.
So – check out this session, recorded on June 15 for RNE3‘s weekly Los Conciertos de Radio 3 program, and at a little over 27 minutes, see what you think. At best, it’s a new discovery you’ve made tonight – at worst, further proof music is happening everywhere.
