One of the most difficult aspects of living as a music reviewer is finding music every day that feels new, worth writing about, and simply makes you happy to spend your time translating its sound to reason. Of course, this is easier done in some genres than others.

In the case of rock and roll and other old-school rock aesthetics, I find it difficult to write about. You often encounter electric guitarists with boomer nostalgia rendered through mindless virtuosity and naive expectations and projections of the antique rockstar dream and stereotypes. This way of thinking about music often results in superficial sweep-pickings and arpeggios, non-stop fast-paced solos without any sense of form or conversation, and some of the most embarrassing misrepresentations of what rock music was about.

Yeah, maybe it is just my luck—I don't know—but it is especially hard for me to find good new music in this style! Because of these difficulties, today I'm ecstatic to have recently discovered Miguel Montalban’s music!

He defies this old stereotype of mine. His music isn't rockstar nostalgia; he actually inhabits and speaks the language of those golden years of rock like a native. Montalban intelligently manages his guitar resources like an absolute master economist, and his sensibility makes it possible for him to effortlessly craft unpredictable experiences in a genre that often thrives on predictability.

In his previous works, we see a huge variety of output, with some songs bordering on old-school rock and metal, others feeling more like jazz, and some that are just difficult to classify. In his latest single, “Fragile Hearts,” his inspiration led him to create a rhythmic ballad, which serves as the perfect pretext to showcase his full sentimentality and emotional intelligence. He delivers interconnections between slow and fast passages, ascending passages that suddenly end in tender descending conclusions, different flavors of guitar processing, and a composition that, despite always being in the same tempo, greatly evolves in intensity and consistently provides new, evolving motifs and themes. The single also reveals influences from blues in both the instrumentation and guitar phrasing. It looks like Montalban graduated from the Conservatory of Jazz Music in Rome, making this theory highly plausible. Additionally, the nuanced thematic evolution in the piece gives it a subtle progressive rock influence.

I'm thrilled that Montalban manages to add a whole dimension of novelty to the realm of rock and roll. It's great to see artists like him growing exponentially. If we visit Montalban’s previous records, we will find that he has collaborated with numerous Grammy-awarded producers and is making waves on YouTube and social media.

To anyone desperately seeking novel approaches to old-school rock soloing, amazing guitarists, and smart virtuosity, I highly recommend Miguel Montalban’s music. Let's support him by giving his latest single a listen!

Author: Martín Cacho

Martín is a video game composer, producer and writer from Sonora, México.