Las Nubes Pay Homage to Miami With Sophomore Album, Tormentas Malsanas

The last time New Times caught up with garage pop's Las Nubes in December, the Miami band was just easing itself back into dropping music. After guitarist Ale Campos' whirlwind autumn spent supporting rock icon Iggy Pop as part of his touring band and a three-year release hiatus, both she and drummer Emile Milgrim delivered a seven-inch single that merely hinted at what had been ruminating in the group's collective conscience.

The buildup culminates this Friday, June 14, with the release of the band's sophomore album Tormentas Malsanas, and fans, rest assured — it was well worth the wait. The record, which translates to "Unhealthy Storms," pays homage to Miami's summer weather, where a clear morning lends itself to a torrential downpour by 3 p.m.

Tormentas Malsanas guides us through the duo's pendulous reflections, switching from the anxieties of wanting to start a family as a female musician to post-adolescent growing pains to calling out performative activism. It's the whiplash of life epitomized into a record and the kind of introspection you need a warning label for.

Musically, Las Nubes considers the record to be a departure from the sounds of their debut, SMVT (pronounced smut), and evidence of the band's technical growth.

"I wouldn't go as far as to say that we sound like a completely different band, but the song structures, the recording quality, and the gear we use are a lot less lo-fi than SMVT," says Campos with a chuckle. "I just want people to hear it and go, 'Damn, that shit's loud.'"

"The songs are also a lot longer," chimes in Milgrim, referencing "Caricia," a shoegazey, ten-minute-long track outfitted with fuzzy guitars and haunting vocals that swell into a gritty anthem. The album's voltaic and dynamic arrangements balance out its weighty lyrics in a self-proclaimed "doom-soaked yet melodically syrupy" way. After all, even Miami's thunderclouds promise a scathing-hot silver lining.

The 305 stays central not just in the album's subject matter, but also in its formation. Miami-based bands such as sludge metal's Floor and doom rock's Holly Hunt were pivotal musical influences as well as Latin American artists like El Shirota, Las Ligas Menores, and Juana Molina, who inspired the band to experiment with songwriting in Spanish.

"I like being able to have that duality of expressing ourselves in more than one language," shares Campos about Tormentas Malsanas' title and six Spanish-language tracks. "Things often get lost in translation."

This month, Las Nubes will bring its thunderous new sound to a Florida-wide tour in support of Tormentas Malsanas. A West Coast stint is slotted shortly after in August. The duo teases that a 2025 European leg may even be in the works.

In the words of legendary guitarist and producer Calvin Johnson, "Las Nubes’ music flows; no doubt the world will flow with them.”

Las Nubes. With Gravess, Adhesive, and Superbitch. 7 p.m. Friday, June 15, at the Bridge, 4220 NW Seventh Ave., Miami; thebridgemiaminpo.org. Tickets cost $14 via ticketleap.com.