El Malo

It takes no small amount of self-awareness to recognize yourself as the bad guy in someone else’s story. And that’s precisely what Carín León does on El Malo’s title track, one of several highlights on this solid set. With romantic prose and carnal intent, he speaks directly and frankly to his forbidden love about the perilous realities of their trysts. Matters of the heart, particularly those mutually broken or otherwise bruised, dominate over the course of this album. True to character, he lobs pointedly scornful barbs at an ex on “Tu Amor Barato” and offers up an embittered apologia via “Me La Avente.”