Stream: The Marías, ‘Hush’

Kevin Bronson on May 1st, 2021

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Light some scented candles, the Marías have announced details of their hotly anticipated debut album.

The dream-pop ensemble built around the alliance of Puerto Rico-born, Atlanta-reared María Zardoya and L.A. native Josh Conway will release “Cinema” on June 25 via Nice Life Recording Co./Atlantic Records.

“The Marías were born from cinema,” singer Zardoya says of the title. “The reason Josh and I started writing music together was because of cinema. Through a friend, we were connected to a music supervisor who would send us requests for music for films. We’d receive a synopsis of a scene, and then we’d have to write music to it within a couple of days. Not only did that teach us how to write songs together fairly quickly, it taught us how to think like filmmakers. We’d imagine worlds in our minds based on the synopses — the colors in the scene, the lighting, the actors, the set design, and of course, the music.”

They turned their talents toward writing buttery jams, soul- and jazz-inflected tunes, in English and Spanish, for the elegant lounge of your mind. They released their first EP, “Superclean, Vol. I,” in 2017 and followed with “Vol. II” the next year. The couple is joined by guitarist Jesse Perlman, keyboardist Edward James and trumpeter Gabe Steiner to round out the band.

After releasing two songs early in 2020 and two more (“Care For You” and “Bop It Up!”) that were done during the pandemic, the Marías returned this week with the first single from their debut album.

“Hush” is dancier than most of what smolders in the Marías’ catalog, but Zardoya is typically mesmerizing as a cooing femme fatale.

“Get your paws off my Dolce Cologne,” indeed.

||| Stream: “Hush”