The Morakestra is El Paso natives and twin Brothers, Will and Dave Mora. The brothers Mora, who now reside in Austin, are joined by Memo Gomez and Daniel Vargas. Unlike most all Latino bands in Austin, they perform indie rock and in English. That is what I love about them so much. They aren’t afraid to be themselves and play the music they want to play without fear of being pigeon held by any ethnic stereotypes.
Their new album, Witness To Connection, is as good as any other indie band’s album around. As with any indie album, there are gems and there are some tracks that are just too weird for the general public to appreciate. Witness to Connection is no exception. The Morakestra’s sound is an interesting mix of Americana, spacey psychedelic sounds and jangly indie rock. “Tonight”, with Will Mora’s indie crooner vocal styling, is the standout track on Witness To Connection. “Tonight” has the polish of an indie hit even Pitch Fork would love, and those guys don’t like anything. “Tell You Something” is a fun track people can sing along with and dance to. I love the vibe on “Angels”. It is a song about courting someone you are attracted to, a theme we can all relate to.
The weirdness on Witness To Connection comes from “Space Bar” and “Butterfly”. Both tracks have Will Mora not singing in his normal voice, which is usually sounds good. The whispering is just weird instead of serving the intended purpose of creating some sort of dark or balmy effect. Still, despite those weird tracks, Witness To Connection is a good album that indie rock fans should definitely check out.