Le Dancing Pepa • Balboa Lovers

Listening to Le Dancing Pepa’s latest album while doing the dishes, I wasn’t won over. The pace was frenetic, the hooks not memorable, the harmonies confusingly quirky, dissonant even—was that trumpet even playing in the same key as that sax? I got the distinct feeling that dancing to this one would be frantic and unsatisfying. In summary, I didn’t like it the first time. But oh—to continue quoting Julia Lee’s dance floor classic—did it grow on me. When the Spanish six-piece released their last full-length album just one year ago, I hailed them as a band that truly knew swing dancing. The arrangements were ideal, giving plenty of scope for dancers to explore and express themselves. There was a good mix of tempos, catering to both the beginner and the expert. Balboa Lovers ups the challenge for both listener and dancer, boosting the speed and peppering every song with chords crunchier and spicier than a seafood paella. On sitting down and listening to the EP a second time—more carefully and on my beloved Bose headphones—I started to appreciate it more. On approaching the piano and trying to pick apart what the band was doing, I began to fall in love. Opening track “Balboa Rhapsody” confronts the listener with an unspoken question: “But do you really like jazz?” Kicking off with what sounds like “Three Blind Mice” played by pianist Eduard Marquina in two