It's hard to imagine why someone with one of the strongest and most expressive voices in roots music would choose to record an instrumental album, but
the Mavericks have built a memorable career out of defying expectations, and that includes
Raul Malo. The group's lead singer has stepped away from the vocal mike and instead opted to show off his skills as a guitarist and arranger on 2023's
Say Less, and while it may be surprising that
Malo has chosen not to sing on these ten tracks, the sound and style are very much in tune with the approach his band has taken since they returned to active duty with 2013's
In Time. This music is steeped in Latin and Cuban grooves, with plenty of retro-pop atmosphere added for effect on "Granada Boulevard," "Cosa's Cumbia," and "Havana Midnight." Several cuts sound like
Malo's been listening to a lot of vintage film scores, and if he intended this album to be a demo to pass along to filmmakers hoping to make a modern-day film noir, cuts like "Para Los Muertos (For the Dead)," "A Sunrise Ago," and an echoey cover of
Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" should do the trick. Meanwhile, "Liberty City" cuts a funky R&B-infused groove, "Peach Blossom Blues" is a jump-blues number that swings hard, and "Solitary Blues" sounds like an unlikely collaboration between
Duane Eddy and
DJ Screw with its thick, deep-echo guitar and half-speed rhythm section. This LP mirrors the sound and spirit of
the Mavericks' work of the 2010s and 2020s, and it should come as no surprise his bandmates back him up on three tracks, but
Malo isn't afraid to put his guitar work front and center, and although it isn't acrobatic, he knows how to get the sound he wants, and it absolutely works for this material. No one has doubted
Raul Malo was a great singer since
the Mavericks broke through in the mid-'90s, but he clearly wanted to prove his voice isn't all that makes him interesting and
Say Less shows he's absolutely right. ~ Mark Deming
![Red [Taylor's Version]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602438633258_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Red [Taylor's Version]")
![Speak Now [Taylor's Version] [Orchid Marbled Vinyl]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602448438034_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Speak Now [Taylor's Version] [Orchid Marbled Vinyl]")
![Fearless [Taylor's Version]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602435845104_p0_v4_s90x140.jpg "Fearless [Taylor's Version]")
![While I'm Livin' [White Vinyl] [B&N Exclusive]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0888072113862_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "While I'm Livin' [White Vinyl] [B&N Exclusive]")
![Pretty Paper [Sky Blue Vinyl] [B&N Exclusive]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0196587656317_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Pretty Paper [Sky Blue Vinyl] [B&N Exclusive]")