The Mars Volta Share Blank Condolences From Forthcoming Acoustic Album

03-10-2023

Cover art

(Big Picture Media) The Mars Volta have shared a new version of the track "Blank Condolenses" that comes from their forthcoming acoustic album, "Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon", which will arrive on April 21, 2023.

Much more than a simple "un- plugged" version of 'The Mars Volta' - the bands self titled seventh album and return as a band - this acoustic rendition furthers the mission of the source music, which drew into sharper focus the traditional Latin influences that have always inspired Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala. This is, says Rodriguez- Lopez, The Mars Volta's version of a "folk record", tracing the melodies and rhythms of the parent album back to their traditional Caribbean roots and chal- lenging listeners to hear the group in an entirely new light.

The upcoming new album isn't simply more content, but a bold, radical, political album, and one that recontextualizes the music of the group's powerful last album within the lineage of the Latin and Caribbean sounds that Rodriguez- Lopez has been mining his entire career, only many ears couldn't hear past the distorted guitars to know what was going on. The songs are re-orchestrated and set to the traditional Caribbean rhythms that Rodriguez-Lopez grew up on. Here, "Black Condolences" becomes an object lesson in this music, segueing be- tween three different traditional rhythms across its three-and-a-half minutes.

For Rodriguez-Lopez, 'Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon' is a long-held dream, finally coming true. "I realized I could finally make a record like this now, I just had to make it happen," he says. "That was the experiment. And it was super-fun. I feel like The Mars Volta is finally beginning - that's why the last album was self- titled, because we've finally stripped everything away and arrived at what the whole concept was at the beginning. And this acoustic version comes from a profound place, with its own meaning and philosophy, and its own reason for be- ing."

'Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon' track listing
Blacklight Shine (Acoustic)
Graveyard Love (Acoustic)
Shore Story (Acoustic)
Vigil (Acoustic)
Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon (Acoustic)
Cerulea (Acoustic)
Flash Burns From Flashbacks (Acoustic)
Palm Full Of Crux (Acoustic)
No Case Gain (Acoustic)
Tourmaline (Acoustic)
Equus 3 (Acoustic)
Collapsible Shoulders (Acoustic)
The Requisition (Acoustic)