You don’t have to worry about the language barrier to understand this album. Alex Cuba is not limited to traditional Cuban music but extends further into his favourite genres, making his self-titled release easy to enjoy. The only track sung in English, If You Give Me Love has a few hints of Earth, Wind and Fire’s September. He also goes Greene and back to his first language, Spanish, on Ella. The rest of the album includes plenty of Caribbean percussion, from the sultry balladSolo tu to Caballo, his first single, which sounds more funk-rock . Even in Spanish, the hooks are catchy and Cuba proves that his familiar sounding soul music and other influences translate easily through music.

Published in Volume 64, Number 12 of The Uniter (November 19, 2009)