Mariachi El Bronx – ‘Mariachi El Bronx IV’

The absolutely beautiful thing about Mariachi El Bronx is that they were never a one-trick pony. For a band that could easily have fallen into parody, they’ve consistently been able to rise above their detractors with smart, sharp melodies that are practically scented with their love of mariachi culture, and ‘Mariachi El Bronx IV’ is no exception. After twelve years purely focusing on The Bronx, the punk Clark Kent to their Mexican Superman, we’re suddenly smacked with a fourth instalment of their studio adventures. It’s tight, darker and packed to the maximum with songs that function as micro-universes: in short, it’s an absolute joy for fans of the parallel world that Marichi El Bronx make their own.

Every song is cinematic, an invitation to lose yourself in daydream for a few minutes. As a lead in, we got ‘Forgive and Forgive’, a song that’s like a dose of regret set to a brass fair that serves as an instant throwback to the first time we heard Mariachi El Bronx and realised just how brilliant they were. Hot on its heels is ‘RIP Romeo’, a tale of a departed Lothario leaving a trail of broken hearts as his memorial, and ‘Bandaleros’, a track like a tumbleweed rolling through an abandoned hideout. All three of those songs are already, at time of writing, in Mariachi El Bronx’s top five on Spotify, blazing up the list like a comet eclipsing previous fan favourites. 

But, the truth is that most songs on ‘Mariachi El Bronx IV’ would absolutely work as singles. The tension which rises like floodwaters to lead in ‘Songbird’ is gorgeously plotted, and the slow-burning ‘The Takers’ screams campfire wreckage; the menace of the lyrics at odds with the deceptively pretty guitar. We can almost feel the lurching footsteps of ‘The Gambler’ as we’re swept along by a monologue on a life on the fringes. An exception might be ‘Tie You Down’, a song that reveals a softer, domestic side to the band that branches into a touching resolution and takes them away from their familiar narratives. The darkness which they’ve lyrically toyed with is released on ‘Into The Afterlife’, a boldly slow celebration of staring death in the face in true outlaw-style. 

Perhaps the only misstep is ‘El Dorado’, which, unless you’re a fan of a lot of rhyming and cliches about Mexican music, probably won’t become your favourite track. That said, there’s doubtlessly a concept behind it that’ll make it shine as soon as you realise it, and it’ll definitely start a bounce in the pit when they play it live. It’s their punk honesty and love of gritty situations that, ever since the start of The Bronx’s metamorphosis into Mariachi El Bronx, made us love them so sincerely. 

We didn’t realise we needed a new Mariachi El Bronx record until it arrived, and at the end of a full listen it’s apparent that a hole in our collective lives has been filled. They occupy a unique place in the world, balancing a sound completely apart from everything else in the punk space with a genuine love for what they create, with lyrics like novellas and a passion for creating their own myth. Long may they continue to make full-bodied, technicolour tunes…hopefully without another decade plus of waiting in between. 

Kate Allvey