In my humble and very skewed (it has to be, from such a long distance) view of the alternative pop/rock scene in my home country, Standstill have easily (and arguably once again) produced the best album of the year. The competition was not negligible: Siwell, Antònia Font, Mus... all put out remarkable records deserving of such recognition. But Standstill outperformed themselves, as well as everyone else, by keeping the emotion, power and focus of their previous post-hardcore rock albums (most notably, The Ionic Spell (2001)) while finding a much more accessible, rich and textured sound. Enric Montefusco's haunting vocals adopt the Spanish language here for the first time, in the process gaining introspection and effectiveness by actually singing, even lulling at times (but hardly ever yelling anymore) much more complex, playful yet sad lyrics, often punctuated with rethorical questions, humorous puns and personal statements of despair, alienation and detachment.
Listening to Standstill is a moving and ultimately overwhelming experience. Take a listen to its opening track, the unusual recount of a birthday celebration that is 'Feliz en tu día'.
