To play the ups and downs of melancholia and euphoria is something that I have only heard Iñigo Muguruza, perfect with the help of Asier Ituarte, a trombonist without rival, and old partner in the age of Joxe Ripiau. The results are spectacular. Their impressive compositions and melodies are supported by a consolidated base rhythm produced by Carlos Zubikoa and Gorka Baskaran who have developed a simple and effective contribution to the band with a contagious beat that is recognizable as nothing other than Sagarroi.

But that’s not all. While we are well accustomed to collaborations at this level with the band (with the likes of Amparanoia, The Solanos and Andoni Delirium), on “Baleike” the band introduces a new feminine voice, Miren Gaztañaga, who has already performed with the group in its most recent live performances. Moreover on this album, without a doubt Sagarroi´s best to date, we also hear Asier on keyboards and Gorka driving the percussion.

All the blame can be given to 10 songs, and in Sagarroi´s case these songs stand up in bold type like hieroglyphics. Sagarroi creates songs from beginning to end, like “Korsario modernoak”, a cumbia-ska that is already a signature with the group, or “Kaos artistikoa”, a new accelerated ska in the band’s own “farrantxi” style. Songs like “Siesta”, a Hendrix style reggae cut, are marked by the characteristic unbridled guitar of Iñigo, while “Viasconen ragga-runba” provides, for the first time, a more profound exploration of Mediterranean sound. Then there is “Bihotzaren minean”…

And once again we hear the references, a wink of appreciation, intimations in a lyric to the movies, the lives of band members, fatherhood, and the endless influences that have given form to all that this disc is and that makes this album part of something bigger.

“Baleike”, is possible: a more humane society, to do away with loneliness and death, to defeat the brutality of capitalism –each day more brutal than the last- the atrocious consumerism… in the end, if we find ourselves beaten, it will not be because we didn’t try.