After two both musically and instrumentally complete and complex albums suc… Read Full Bio ↴After two both musically and instrumentally complete and complex albums such as “No podemos ser amigos” (2002) and “The Last Laugh” (2004), Irene Tremblay, otherwise known as Aroah, is back with a six song (five in English, one in Spanish) mini-CD. The new record could well be defined as the echo of that last spell, an epilogue to “The Last Laugh”. It’s a simple, flowing, acoustic-inspired record that suggests comparisons to Hope Sandoval or early Nina Nastasia. Erie arrangements and roomy instrumentation are provided by producer Raül Fernández – Élena, Refree…-, who also co-authors three of the record’s songs.

Unintentionally, her least ambitious project and most laid back recording experience have resulted in a compendium of poetry and… ¿orchestrated folk-pop? In which –Irene claims – the largest influence has been “silence”. In fact, during the months that preceded the recording she never listened to music or bought records – there was already too much noise going on in her head. She spent most of October and November of 2004 sleeping. She mostly had nightmares such as the one that inspired “A dream”. The only recording she did listen to was Elliot Smith’s posthumous record; it depressed her so that she hid it away and still hasn’t found it.

The lyrics are portraits of real experiences. Of course, the courtyard is a pretty obvious metaphor, but it’s also a place where photographs for the CD’s artwork were taken: the garden of the house where “The Last Laugh” was completed. “Into the courtyard” – the song- speaks of another temporary home where Irene lived for months out of a suitcase, accumulating books, pictures, bottle corks, papers, sad memories and very occasionally a triumphant moment. Ever since she set aside the idea of an entirely Spanish EP that would bear the title “Objetos Perdidos” (an expression she translates loosely as Lost & Found) she has been obsessed with the idea of with the necessity/lack of necessity of such material possessions.

After years of concerts and tribulations, two full-length recordings, two EPs and various tours in different circumstances – more or less rock-like, with assorted line-ups- Aroah introduces us to her best song-writing to date. The single cover on the record, “Caroline Says II”, owes more influence to Nico’s “Chelsea Girls” or Lisa Germano than to Lou Reed’s original recording. On the five new songs Irene seems to be waving goodbye to all her possible influences – Joni Mitchell, Vashti Bunyan…-. This is what happens to the best of artists when, after a long time searching for something they didn’t want to find, they find something they weren’t actually looking for: a code, a unique poetic language of symbols that continuously change while pronouncing every word and playing every note as if they were the last.

Recuerdos
Aroah Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Toda la tarde tirando fotos.
Desde mi ombligo hasta las alturas.
Tus ojos, mi lente, tu espalda, la gente.

Si no hay carrete, no hay recuerdos.
Si no hay carrete, no hay recuerdos.

Lo que no se apunta se olvida.

Si no te convences de que todo fue mentira.
Tus ojos, mi lente, tu espalda, la gente.

Si no hay carrete, no hay recuerdos.
Si no hay carrete, no hay recuerdos.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Aroah's song Recuerdos delve into the concept of memories and the significance of capturing them. The song is primarily in Spanish, with a few English words thrown in. The first two lines set the scene of the singer taking pictures all afternoon, capturing everything from their own perspective (their navel) to the heights beyond their reach. The next two lines reveal that the person being photographed is the love interest, with their eyes being the focus and the singer's camera lens recording the angle of their back as others observe.

The chorus of the song repeats the idea that without a photograph (carrete), there are no memories (recuerdos). This emphasizes the importance of capturing moments to remember them later. The next verse continues this theme, declaring that anything not recorded will be forgotten. The last line of the verse suggests that some things may be remembered as lies, indicating that photography provides a more reliable record. As in the first verse, the focus is on the subject's eyes, with their back and the observers once again playing a secondary role.

Overall, Aroah's Recuerdos is a wistful reflection on the value of capturing memories through photography. The use of second person and the focus on the love interest suggest that the singer is addressing a particular person, perhaps someone who has left them. The lyrics are simple but effective, repeating the chorus to drive home the importance of recording memories before they fade away.

Line by Line Meaning

Toda la tarde tirando fotos.
Spending the whole afternoon taking pictures.

Desde mi ombligo hasta las alturas.
Capturing images all the way from my belly button to high above.

Tus ojos, mi lente, tu espalda, la gente.
Your eyes, my camera lens, your back, and the people in the background all together in the shot.

Si no hay carrete, no hay recuerdos.
Without film, there are no memories.

Si no hay carrete, no hay recuerdos.
If there's no film, there are no memories.

Lo que no se apunta se olvida.
What's not recorded is forgotten.

Si no te convences de que todo fue mentira.
If you can't convince yourself that everything was a lie.

Tus ojos, mi lente, tu espalda, la gente.
Your eyes, my camera lens, your back, and the people in the background all together in the shot.

Si no hay carrete, no hay recuerdos.
Without film, there are no memories.

Si no hay carrete, no hay recuerdos.
If there's no film, there are no memories.

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS

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