Serpentina - Planeando En Tu Azotea (CD)

All Music Guide

Serpentina's sophomore effort, Planeando en Tu Azotea, offers another round of delightfully eclectic indie pop. This Spanish brothersister duo sounds like a sweet, sparkly reconfiguration of any number of easy listening artists from the late '60s and early '70s in a way, listening to Planeando en Tu Azotea is the equivalent of an afternoon spent digging through rummage sale records, minus the grubby fingers. "Dos o Tres Meses," with its cool Latin percussion, flute solos, and florid vocal harmonies immediately brings to mind Sergio Mendes Brazil '66, and the irrepressibly bright and bouncy "El Universo" gives a heavy nod to the New Seekers. The list goes on in the span of 12 tiny tunes, Serpentina manage to sound like Chad Jeremy, Donovan, White Shoes the Couples Company, and Yann Tiersen (especially on "No Se Por Que"). And in spite of being perfect mockingbirds, Serpentina manage to evoke the easy listening bands of the past without sounding overtly gimmicky. Planeando en Tu Azo...tea's only shortcoming is that it's really, well, short clocking in at just over 25 minutes, this disc is just a hop, skip, and a jump from being an EP. A good number of the tracks on this disc feel like little introductions TV theme songs or jingles and many barely scrape past the twominute mark. Sometimes it's good to keep things short and sweet, but there are a few spots on Planeando that feel like they're just not fully realized "Que Desilusion" and "No Se Por Que," addictive as they are, are the chief offenders here. This is a small quibble, though, and fans and newcomers alike will likely find more than enough retrolicious indie pop goodness on this dainty disc. - Margaret Reges, All Music Guide Read more Less