Montevideo’s CRUZA dropped “alma” on February 6th, the second single from vocalist and visual artist Lucia Molina’s project. Her debut “.38” earned praise from Radio Click Digital for what they called a seductive reinvention of Latin Soul, and “alma” takes a different direction entirely. The track opens with “Mi madre pierde las cosas” (My mother loses things) and builds from there into something deeply introspective. Molina draws inspiration from her Uruguayan roots and European Spanish heritage to create a sound that sits somewhere between cinematic folk and flamenco jazz. The production strips away digital polish in favor of something more visceral and live-sounding.
The language barrier was no barrier to entry at all; without understanding a word, I was completely captivated by the song from the first listen. There is a powerful human vulnerability to every minor detail of this song, from the supporting layers of guitar to the arrangement itself and how unbelievably dynamic it is, and finally to Lucia Molina’s incredible vocals that are full of life and humanity and tell the story with the texture, tone, and execution as much as the words themselves or even more.
Molina also works as a model and actress, and the visual side of CRUZA leans into what’s been described as a “Dark Academia” aesthetic. “alma” translates to “soul,” and the track lives up to that. It’s about memory, lineage, and the things we carry even when they feel lost. Molina’s planning to take this project to the stage, and based on the raw power in this recording, those performances are going to be something.