Un Hombre Solo’s new mini-LP, Desilusion Total, is a work about the resounding sorrow of everyday life. Literally translating to “total disappointment,” the album by the New York City-based artist Fernando Jz (by way of Juarez, Mexico), continues on in the project’s theme of “loneliness and dissociation from the world.”
As a follow up to his 2021 tape release titled Rotundo Fracaso, the complexity of Desilusion Total sonically derives its brutality from classic EBM such as Leæther Strip’s 1992 Solitary Confinement LP and its fierce melodies from Alaska y Dinarma’s Deseo Carnal from 1984. “Based on self-experiences,” writes Un Hombre Solo, “the songs are lyrically written in an expressionist and not necessarily a linear way. Inspired by the work of many bands from the ‘80s Spanish Movida Madrileña—such as Alaska y Dinarama, Paralisís Permanente, and Decíma Victima (the project name comes from one of their albums)—they are presented by what appears to be two different characters, one representing the suffering and the other anger.”
The duality of characters in the Un Hombre Solo project are found within the six tracks of the mini-LP—in between the tenacity of the beat and the sorrowful synths that seemingly wail in torment. Desilusion Total begins with the song “Aportando de Nada,” which feels like an Angelo Badalamenti nightmare set to a forceful tempo. It’s followed by the album’s first single, “Oscuro y Podrido,” which is “a song that talks about being trapped in your own void.” Un Hombre Solo’s urgency in his work (especially profound in “Estoy Cansado” and “Desilusion Total”) is cauterized by the melancholy enveloped throughout the LP. “Comportamiento de Ratas” and “La Hora” cling on to the possibility of escape from the futility of the world—sadness abounds, but hope for reprieve remains in their melodic gloom.