The band from Malaga, Lord Malvo, turns the "pleasurable defeat" of maturity into their new album, 'Cuánto Cuesta'

The band from Malaga, Lord Malvo, returns with 'Cuánto Cuesta', a second album that consolidates their sound identity and, above all, their place within a ... generation that discovers adult life amid early mornings, mortgages, friendships that fray, and a fatigue that can't always be cured with music, but that music knows how to narrate. The band, formed by Adrián Gámiz, Adrián Nonak, Mario Muñoz, and Julio García, delivers an album that functions as a generational mirror. As a sweet protest and lyrical acknowledgment that "growing up is, at times, a pleasurable defeat."

"We're hard workers. From Monday to Friday we work, and on weekends we play at being rockstars," say Adrián Gámiz and Adrián Nonak, laughing. This statement sums up the album's breath: nine songs that ask, with irony, what the real price of holding onto a dream is when life pushes you elsewhere. A journalist, a multidisciplinary artist from Freepik, a graphic designer, and a data analyst at Neutral. All four balance their musical projects with their jobs.

Funk and Maturity

Recorded between Seville and Granada, with pre-production alongside Álex Fernández (Vera Fauna), and final work at La Mina by Raúl Pérez, the album embraces 70s funk, deep groove bass, and electric keyboards reminiscent of Chic or Kool & The Gang, but also Bandalos Chinos, Calamaro, or Charly García. A warm sound that contrasts with the emotional background. Accepting that youth is starting to feel distant.

'Cuánto Cuesta' is the title, but also a reality if it stops being considered a question and is viewed as a statement. "The album cost the same as a 2007 Volkswagen Polo," they joke. But they are serious when they explain the real price. Evenings stolen from rest after workdays, monthly trips to Seville to work on the drafts, inevitable frictions among friends who are also creative partners. And, though it's hard, they assure: "We realize that it is indeed worth it."

The album consists of nine tracks that serve as an emotional map of adult life in Málaga, Seville, Madrid, or any city where nostalgia grows: 'Perro Fiel', which deals with friendships that splinter due to lack of time; 'Mi Propio Jefe', an act of domestic rebellion during work hours; 'Cuánto Cuesta', the central manifesto about the time spent "earning a living"; 'Mi Vergüenza (Está para no usarla)', an explosive device about shyness and introspection; 'Porcelana', the first advance that mixes Argentine rock, love, and precariousness; 'Más Feliz y Menos Productivo', almost a praise of doing nothing; 'Te Vas de Viaje', a love story that stretches; 'No Encuentro la Forma', written from the intimacy of a notebook; and 'Begudas Fredas', a closure that traces a relationship across the geography of the country.

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Lord Malvo emerged in 2019 from precarious rehearsal spaces in Almogía and friendships that eventually became family. The group has matured alongside its members: stable jobs, unforgiving rents, relationships that demand time and care. The band has discovered that music is not only made but also balanced.

Finding Internal Balance

"It's a privilege to work all four of us," Nonak asserts. But it's also difficult, as they often have had to confront the creative ideas of four voices that compact into one facing the public. "Sometimes we have had differences at the level of artistic proposals, but we solve it well, each one contributes their essence."

"We are at our best moment," claims Gámiz. Artistically, sonically, and also humanly, they have learned to "argue without breaking, to decide by consensus, to understand that a group is a cohabitation of four." What essence does each one bring? Adrián Gámiz details along with Nonak: "Nonak brings sensitivity, romanticism, and a very intelligent vision of the songs. I bring character, the raw, the punky, and a point of cheekiness in the lyrics." This is complemented by Mario as a tireless arranger and Julio as a rhythmic pillar and architect of the structures, capable of "rethinking the themes" and giving them their final shape.

The group starts their tour in February, with a schedule that will take them through Barcelona, Seville, Madrid, Zaragoza, and their home, Málaga, where they harbor a private desire: "to fill La Cochera Cabaret." "To become great, we first want to be prophets in our land," says Adrián Gámiz.

In concerts, the members promise a live performance where the energy of funk coexists with the honesty of their lyrics and the personality of a group that knows how to laugh at itself. There won't be pogo, the years and style have closed that door, but there will be unavoidable dancing. "Music to shake your ass to," as a Rock FM announcer described their musical style.

The final wish of the members is for the album to reach people, to be listened to, to be purchased, to be lived. "We keep reminding ourselves not to dedicate ourselves exclusively to music. But if we are putting so much effort into it, maybe it's because deep down we hope that this project propels us," declares Gámiz.

'Cuánto Cuesta' is perhaps the best way they have to try to make that dream no longer a chimera. An album for those who move forward with fatigue, but also with dignity and humor. A sincere portrait of a generation that, from Málaga, tries not to lose what adult life should not take away: friendship, music, and a purpose that sustains the days, even though it's hard.