Miami Latin Pop Band Bacilos Is Back With Pequeños Romances

Emerging from the vibrant multicultural hub of Miami, Grammy- and Latin Grammy-winning band Bacilos, comprising Jorge Villamizar and André Lópes, returns with Pequeños Romances, a follow-up to 2021's Abecedario. Released on May 16, their sixth album blends ballads, cumbia, cha-cha, and other styles, with the lyrics narrating everyday emotions. Ahead of the album's release, tracks like "Anoche" and "Facho" gave a glimpse into this project earlier this year.

The album, a collection of Villamizar's previous compositions and re-recordings from his solo career, aims to capture Bacilos' live essence. Produced by the band and guitarist Ahmed Barroso, Pequeños Romances eschews the use of beat tracks or computers to generate sounds and exudes a pronounced Cuban influence.

The mixing was done by Cesar Sogbe, who gave the record a "little sprinkle of the Venezuelan sound that has always influenced our music and my songwriting," Villamizar tells New Times. While creating the album, the pair used an old room and board by Brazilian engineer Alvaro Alencar at Criteria Studio's Studio C. "It's a studio that has a lot of stories and history of classics being recorded there, like 'Hotel California' by the Eagles," Lópes shares.

When it comes to Bacilos' growth over the years, Villamar is grateful for the team of musicians and technicians at the band's disposal. "The musicians are Cubans, the techs are Argentines and Ecuadoreans, the multitalented roadie is Mexican. We are missing a gringo, we get one here and there — then again, aren't we all gringos already? This feeling and the amazing talent of our band has given us the platform to grow our show, and I would say confidently that we never sounded this good."

Lópes emphasizes the band's constant progression and maturity, striving to maintain the essence of their compositions in both live performances and recordings. "We have an amazing band not only at live concerts but also when we record together. Everything ties up to a sound that respects the compositions to its essence, and we try to transmit that to our fans," he explains.
The process of bringing Pequeños Romances to life began when Villamizar was told by his publisher and old friend Jorge Luis Piloto to compose alone. Villamizar heeded the advice, describing co-writing as a "modern way of making songs. It's efficient, it's fast, it creates songs full of hooks and catches faces. But you lose depth because deep inside, we are alone, and those feelings need to be expressed too."

For the track "30 Años en Miami," in particular, Villamizar recalls, "I got in my sailboat and came up with '30 Años en Miami', and that song helped me reconnect with my old ways. It takes time, weeks, months, years. I also have become more observant of my dreams and less lazy when it comes to getting up from bed at 4 a.m. to record a melody to a song that I was dreaming about. I only did one co-write, and it came from a trip to Buenos Aires, where I connected with Sandro Puente and wrote a few songs while I enjoyed that magic. It is witty and fun, as good co-writers are."

The album's title, Pequeños Romances, stems from an encounter in Cartagena, Colombia, where Villamizar was told he favored short-lived romances. Finding humor and tragedy in the label, he adopted it as both a song and album title.

Miami's multicultural environment heavily influences Bacilos' sound. "Here is where people from all over the world meet, and it's been like that for quite a while now," Lópes says. "So, for the origin of Bacilos, having different nationalities meet in a common ground, which is music from different places in Latin America to find things that we have in common as well as finding things that are different and seeing how well they go together."

With a string of dates in Mexico, Spain, and Colombia on the horizon, Bacilos hopes to engage with fans through storytelling and memorable melodies. "We want people to have fun with it, to think, to fall in love with the songs as they have in the past with prior Bacilos songs," Lópes says.