ESPANOL MUSIC REVIEWS

Beto Cuevas

The color palette on the cover of “Miedo Escénico” is a reflection of the songs included in the album: from violet to green, from red to white; bright tones emerging powerful over an intense dark background. These contrasts reflect the mood of the songs: stories between the lines; borrowed anecdotes, experiential passages, adapted and nostalgic tales.

The artist, who took the time to compose, produce, sing and play instruments in his new songs, also got involved in the visual concept, as he is a Graphic Designer himself.  He wanted to present this album as a “cover letter” of himself, showing in his songs a deep contrast of emotions and thoughts, a detailed work that took three years of his life.
His work presents songs such as “El Cínico”, “Háblame”¨, “Un Minuto de Silencio” and “Vuelvo”,
The tales that craft the album are human, light, simple, strong, heavy, intense or passionate, and that is what they are for this 41 old songwriter: tales.  They have nothing autobiographical, just some personal notes.

“The duty of an artist is to observe, and doing so, you find stories and tales, and how they come to me is how I show them”.  He doesn’t say anything about his personal life, his relationship with his partner or his family.  That is separate from his career and he doesn’t have to make it public.

Even though “Miedo Escénico” was already expected two years ago, without that title of course, Beto wasn’t in any hurry or in the need to be in a spotlight.  He gave himself some time and space to gather thoughts that were then transported to musical notes, verses, and ideas, so he finally finished it this year.

He says that he was influenced by the feeling of detachment, by the quest for a life far away from routine, and by the feeling of a missing goal and challenge that some times puzzled him.  “I had forgotten about the daily life, because I was encapsulated in a schematic job.  I came closer to my family and friends… I feel that I was re-introduced to a society that worked in a different way than that which I knew before I joined the band. My songs came from all this process and these are the songs that I’m ready to show now.”

Beto worked as the producer of “Miedo Escenico”, and in the last stage of the project he added Aureo Baqueiro to his team.  He also worked with Steve Tushar who was the artist in charge of audio design and final polishing of the whole project.
Cuevas wrote all the songs, orchestrated them and supervised the recording sessions, which took place in his studio in Los Angeles, “Black Elbow”.  The final mix was done in The Complex.

“Calling the album “Miedo Escénico” is kind of an irony about the moment in which the artist is filled with an atrocious feeling of uncertainty before jumping on stage, which is the feeling that keeps me alive, but in exchange of what is around. 
Before recording the album there wasn’t any feeling of doubt or uncertainty, everything was marked by the irony of saying the opposite to miedo escénico: here I am and don’t move because I’ll be right back”, says the songwriter, who appears in the cover of the album like a modern James Bond, with his face half lit and a dandy hat. 
The song “Miedo Escénico” was named like that because, for Cuevas, it is like a metaphor about love and the consequences of this feeling.