Los Niños Sin Miedo has been a long time coming for Madrid-based garage rockers, the Parrots. Having formed way back in 2008, some would say that the group have been slow to come up with this their first full-length release. Upon listening to the Parrots’ carefree, lo-fi brand of music, however, we begin to feel that this isn’t a band who care for rushing things.
The Parrots’ slacker aesthetic does wonders when the trio are able to reconcile it with other genre influences; the opening tracks of the record have a tinge of Latin music about them, and sound as if they would not be out of place on the soundtrack to a Tarantino film. As the record goes on, however, the Parrots seem to prefer casting themselves as more of a traditional garage rock band, with distorted vocals and lumbering guitar work taking centerstage. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though we do become quite aware of their formula about halfway through the record. This is the kind of album that, with its endearingly coarse lo-fi set-up, will leave some frothing at the mouth. Others may find the Parrots’ debut album difficult to grasp, however, especially considering the lack of variety that it offers towards its back end.