Kevin Bronson on June 1st, 2022

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Rare Hearts — the new alt-rock project from Mexican-American singer-songwriter Joe Rojas — came out of the chutes with guitars blazing last year, releasing their first single, “Good Times.”

It’s a breakup song and a raging rocker to boot, but does Rojas play the bitter, vindictive or vengeful one? Nope. He’s loud, yes. Emotional and anguished, sure. But from the first verse — “Let’s remember the good times baby” — he’s taking the high road.

“A powerful way for getting over a breakup is to reminisce those good times that you had because there are more to come,” Rojas says. “It’s easy to fall into the perception of, ‘Oh this is treacherous, and I’m never going to have that again,’ but it’s the opposite. That’s always helped me get over the hurt from breakups instead of ignoring all of that shit that is hard to deal with.”

The song — made with producer Sam Sobo and the first from an EP arriving later this year via My Grito Industries — gets the dream-sequence treatment in the video directed by Jay Braley and starring Madi Collins.

As in the lyrics of the song, Rojas is a mess, slumped on the kitchen floor or in bed, deep in longing. In the end, the song offers catharsis in big guitars seemingly carved from the granite of the alt-rock ’90s. Not a bad way to turn the page.

||| Watch: The video for “Good Times”