Take a look on Cristobal And The Sea’s Bandcamp page and you’ll find the mission statement for Exitoca. The band themselves say that Exitoca is an album about escapism. Inviting you to shed your clothes, your inhibitions, embrace life and roll around in field. Cristobal And The Sea have breathed a warm glow into a gloomy time. They propose the album as an escape from working life and a dire political climate. Exitoca is an album which loves life and seeks to spread this feeling.

From the off, Exitoca sets itself out like a concept album about city escape. The opening track ‘Porcelanosa’ has a screeching saxophone that makes you think of the damp urban environment it was most likely conceived in. Cut to ‘Steal My Phone’, which sounds like a song from Dreamworks’ Shark Tale, the album becomes not so much euphoric but idyllic. Each listener will be able to draw the same dreamy island scene in their head. Exitoca is brimming with bright positive energy almost to the point of hyperactivity. The album flows very quickly with a lot condensed into 40-or-so minutes.

Exitoca is an excitable mix of electronica over drum and bass and in fact over pretty much anything the band turns its hand to. It’s a record that should be a complete mess, but it isn’t. From a capella gospel-tinged vocals on ‘Brother’ to something more guitar and electronic driven on ‘The Seed’ and dizzy electronics on ‘Totem Tennis’. Every track on the album tries out a new idea from the last. However, the band do manage to make it all sound from the same canon and their enthusiastic energy is the lifeblood that makes Exitoca work. It’s the variety of the album that doesn’t let its own charm wear thin.

There are some much calmer moments on the album. ‘Salsa Dude’ is a cool and breezy track with a soft but climaxing chorus. Production wise, Exitoca is full of strange sounds. There are moments referencing Unknown Mortal Orchestra on the guitars. There’s a mix of uncanny sound effects on the vocals on ‘Before Nine’ which, like so much of the album, adds another layer to the music. It’s part of what makes Exitoca so interesting, you may have heard all of these sounds before but not like this.

Towards the end, the album doesn’t necessarily plateau but it gets a little deeper and a little more trippy. The playfulness of the album gets dropped and swapped for something more serious. The switch between the two is a welcome change of pace and it finishes the album with a lasting impact. Perhaps it’s those escapist dreams bleeding into your reality or fading away entirely leaving you grounded once more.

Exitoca is certainly an ambitious album that’s very hard to not get along with. The band’s mission statement of escapism is certainly clear throughout and definitely hits the mark. Exitoca won’t solve any of life’s problems for you and it won’t pull you out of a September depression either. It will take you away from all of the noise of modern life and leave you feeling warmer and a little looser.

Chris Middleton

Facebook: facebook.com/cristobalandthesea
Twitter: twitter.com/Cristobalband

Read our review of Cristobal and The Sea at The Great Escape festival: brightonsfinest.com/html/index.php/spotlight/2468-the-great-escape-festival-2017-18th-20th-may-2017