Outerloop Releases New Single: “huracán”
First off, I have to acknowledge my own bias—not only is this a DC band which means I’m emotionally connected to where they are from, but I’m also going to be releasing a live album with them in 2024, so I already think their music is sick as fuck. With that being said, I’ve loved many a band or album and then been disappointed by subsequent releases, but that is not the case here in the fucking slightest.
“huracán” is an angular post punk song whose unique instrumentality is matched by powerfully delivered vocals switching between Spanish and English.
Lyrically I can see the meaning of the song two ways. Having lived in Florida in 2018, I can take the song quite literally as I remember when three hurricanes hit within 30 days: Harvey, Irma, and Marie. My own personal home in Orlando was fine, but the devastation in other parts hit, particularly Puerto Rico, were hard to bare witness to, especially with so many of my students with family and friends there. So on one level this song could be evoking what these hurricanes ripped away from families and though it wasn’t mentioned highlight the lack of government support which allowed people to be left destitute.
Taken a less direct way, the hurricane could be a metaphor for external challenges we face that come at us leaving us few options other than to “sell or bind up” because either way ,even if we survive, we are likely to be left bereft with little hope of salvation. In this case there is an imbalance of power wherein people who are given no choice and are forced to suffer a physical and/or emotional loss of connection to their physical homes or their internal sense of well being and security.
Keep in mind that lyrics like all forms of art are co-constructed between the art and the person engaging with it who bring their own meaning making to bear on what they hear, so this could all mean something totally different to others.
In either case its an emotionally charge song, and the way the instruments swirl around and build really fit within the context of the lyrics. The vocal pattern during the verse give voice to the tension and urgency in their hushed, rapid fire delivery which are then followed by an emotionless “announcement” stylized chant letting us all know that we have “30 days” which reminds me of scene in movies where people are herded to “safety”. This then gives way to forceful chorus that pulls all of the emotional anguish at the unfairness of a situation where any requests for help seem to fall on deaf ears eventually leaving the people with only one possible end result: “Tengo dos opciones uedo vender o vendar” (I have two options I can sell or sell).
So I found this video after writing my own interpretation, and while I wasn’t too horribly far off I think their explanation just makes me love the song even more:
Huracán is a song about the issue of displacement, more specifically the kind of displacement that is being seen all over the island of Puerto Rico. People are given 30 days notice and forced to vacate properties that they rent or even own, so that developers can have access to the land closest to the beachfront. The neglect, and oftentimes facilitation, on behalf of the government is leaving communities desolate, not only affecting homes but all infrastructure. Schools and clinics are left with no funding and are being shut down. Once-protected beaches full of crucial wildlife are being destroyed. You will hear two voices in the song. The English-speaking voice of the oppressor conveys no empathy, and recalls the days where slaves were forced to harvest sugarcane, the main export of Caribbean islands. The voice of the people, which is in Spanish, begins as a quiet plea, and grows louder throughout the song until the final chorus, where the multitudes cry out for justice.
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