Ironically, although Madrid-based power pop band Cecilia Ann's debut album was produced by Ken Stringfellow, it's their 2000 follow-up, Suenacuento, that sounds more like the Posies. Were it not for the fact that the Spanish-language lyrics would likely turn off some of power pop's less open-minded fans (and frankly, power pop fans as a general rule are known to be rather musically conservative), Suenacuento would no doubt be hailed as one of the finest straight-ahead power pop albums of the millennium's early years. Aside from a few tracks decorated with horns and strings, not to mention the banjo-powered Mike Nesmith-like country-rock stomp of "Rompe Rosa," Suenacuento is meat and potatoes power pop, all jangly guitars and winsome high-register vocals in the branch of the style that grew out of Big Star and the dB's, as opposed to the Raspberries and Cheap Trick. Songs like the breathless pop-rocker "Imperactivo," and the dreamy, shimmering ballad "Bellas Artes" should appeal even to those listeners with a language barrier.
© Stewart Mason /TiVo