Published
Their first full-length entirely in Spanish and, without a doubt, their best record to date. This is one of the finest bands in the country, and it is not just me saying so: Paul Banks himself (Interpol) said on Radio 3 after hearing them that he found the band and their sound unique and incredible. Yet Levitants still do not occupy the place they deserve on our festival bills or in the music media, which is incomprehensible.
After two releases on Subterfuge — Enola (2019) and the essential mini-LP Futuro Inmediato (2023), another brilliant record that marked their transition to Spanish — the Valladolid band sign to Calaverita Records for the first time to deliver a major work.
Record details:
- Released: 18 September 2026
- Label: Calaverita Records
- Production: Javier Vielba (Arizona Baby, El Meister) on synthesisers, keyboards and backing vocals + Raúl Pérez at La Mina studios (Granada)
- Format: 11 songs, almost 50 minutes
Sergio Isabel’s quartet
Levitants are now a quartet from Valladolid led by Sergio Isabel: singer, guitarist, songwriter and undisputed driving force, the one who has kept things moving since the band was founded in 2011.
Alongside him are:
- Marcos Merillas – bass. A guitarist by training, as Sergio himself admits with a laugh: "I made him do it".
- Sergio Arconadas – guitar. Coming from the jazz scene in Donosti, his impressive musical training makes itself heard in every arrangement.
- Pablo Sanz – drums. A luthier by trade, he had never heard Levitants until Sergio sent him the record.
They have definitively left English-language indie behind to embrace dark post-punk, indie rock and alt-pop with flashes of psychedelia. A conceptual, experimental and eclectic record that does not disown its roots.
Track by track
It opens with "La Cena", a single with enveloping power and an almost epic guitar finale that makes the band’s new scope clear. It is followed by one of the album’s centres of gravity, "Fondo de Pantalla". The song that provides the line that gives the record its title. One of the best things they have ever written.
"Las Cosas Importantes", the first advance single, is another undeniable belter. A declaration of love in a New Romantic vein — Echo & The Bunnymen, Roxy Music — about the fear of failing to look after what really matters because life moves too fast.
And the standard never drops. Here comes "Señales": restrained grandeur, melodies that hook you and plenty of bite.
The record’s dark, magnetic middle stretch comprises "Alta Tendencia", "Muerte a la Española", pure post-punk, and the captivating "Un Volcán", with that Cure-like bass. "TRUE CRIME", the most contemporary-sounding track, brings near-hip-hop vocals and slashing guitars that brush up against grunge.
The final stretch goes all in: "NNNV", the distinctly Spanish and sinister "Pechocuchillo" — a direct descendant of Gabinete Caligari at their darkest, recast as a borderland western with razor-sharp lyrics — and the closing "Vamos a Bailar (Introducción al Baile I)". A Britpop ballad that works as an anthem to defeat understood as acceptance: "Today we’re going to dance until it no longer hurts".
Perhaps it is not the most satisfying ending to the whole, but it does not tarnish an unparalleled work. Eleven songs that will bring out the best in you.
You will fall in love with them.
85/100