Cariño - The Marías

“Cariño” - The Marías 

28 September 2018 - from Superclean Vol. II EP

“Cariño” is a term of endearment, similar to ‘sweetie’ or ‘honey.’ You say it to someone who makes you feel at ease, someone that makes everything feel like a good dream. Cariño...María feels this strongly about someone. She takes her brush and lets it dance along a blank space to create this record. The final product is made con mucho cariño: with a lot of love.

A keyboard fades into a drizzle in the opening scene while the bassline joins before the curtains open. The lead guitar’s riff grabs our hand and walks us across the dreamy landscape. Suddenly, we fall into a soft field of grass with María and the guitar. The scene is right from her imagination. There is a lover that creates this relaxing atmosphere for her. She’s lost in their comfort, falling into their silky embrace. By simply looking at this person, María feels peace: “con solo mirarte/algo que da paz” (with just looking at you/something that gives peace).

María gets up at the chorus and brings us along to dance. There is no story, no destination. We are only guided by the cozy rush that comes with a love like this. She again alludes to how this love paints the entire dream: “cariño/pintas en color” (cariño/you paint in color). A trumpet smoothly complements the preaching of María’s voice before carrying us back into another verse.

Now the listener is swaying and dancing with the rhythm. Each snare hit is a barefoot step on finely manicured grass. In each line, the lead guitar rises and falls to accent the wave. The feelings are stronger now. María doesn’t just want to admire this love from afar, she wants to devour it (“quiero tanto devorarte/esta vez besarte”). The listener is swept up into another chorus that rides longer than the last. The guitar takes its own solo, and Maria follows it. What she follows, we don’t exactly know. But it’s “something about you babe.”

The rhythmic guitar, bass and rhythm sections take charge again in the instrumental break. They drive across the endless landscape, letting the listener close their eyes to soak in the sun and the summer breeze. María is confident about her intentions: “I can be your babe if you won’t let go.” She slows the vehicle down and pulls over into another chorus. This time, it’s just her and an acoustic guitar calling to her “cariño.” The wind picks up, and off we go one more time with the rest of the band. The lead guitar and trumpet go back and forth, leading each step as we dance with Maria before falling back into the grass.

In the opening line, María referred to this lover as “una obra de arte” (a work of art). The dreamy musings of this song and the scenes created by the instrumentation are its own work of art.