Balún
Brooklyn-based electronic indie band Balún self-identify as transnational. The quartet that broke out of the San Juan indie scene a decade ago has undergone a formational odyssey through the industry, academia, and the stateside Puerto Rican experience. Balún’s long-awaited sophomore album Prisma Tropical focuses a vast field of genres and influences into a revelatory sound that evokes both the band’s homes and the distance between them. Heavy doses of tiple, bomba barrel drum, and dembow work alongside loops and layers of shimmering synths to accomplish something explicitly of the island, yet fluent in the language of global pop. Tied together around the magical realism of singer and composer Angélica Negrón’s lyrics, Balún’s deep understanding of reggaeton's Jamaican dancehall roots has transformed their shoegaze pop into “dreambow.”
Balún's LP 'Prisma Tropical' was released on July 20th, 2018 via Goodchild Music and premiered on NPR’s First Listen. Their single 'La Nueva Ciudad' Premiered on Remezcla and was Spotify Latino's Song of the Day, breaking into the Viral Charts globally and in 8 countries including Spain, Mexico, Chile, & Argentina. 'Prisma Tropical' was one of NPR’s Top 50 Albums of 2018, placed #4 in Rolling Stone’s Top 10 Latin Albums of 2018, and The New York Times named the single “Años Atrás” one of the "Best 65 Songs of 2018".
