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Está Vivo Teases New Album With “Smile Back”

By Sarah Cobarrubias in Arts & Entertainment on May 17, 2012 5:20PM

2012_05_17_estavivo.jpg Está Vivo produces the type of playful, tropical folk that could serve as a soundtrack to a late night beach party. The solo act (the brainchild of Chicago native Ryan McMahon) is getting ready to release a new album, Befitting Flesh, and has dropped the upcoming release’s first single, “Smile Back.”

The new track contains the same breezy, summertime feel that drew us to Está Vivo in his first album--it’s a delightful ditty that’s heavy on the xylophone and brisk, staccato guitar. Contrast that with McMahon’s woozy vocals, which describe the narrator’s unrequited love with lyrics like, “Let me see you walk one last time. All the steps you strut create the perfect rhymes.”

MP3: Está Vivo “Smile Back”

If you like what you hear, you can also catch Está Vivo live when he performs two weeks from today at the Empty Bottle, opening for The Black Belles. Also playing is Michael Lux & the Bad Sons.

Está Vivo opens for The Black Belles Thursday, May 31 at the Empty Bottle, 1035 N Western, 9:30 p.m., $8, 21+