Here comes the spring we’ve seemed to bloom…” is the opening line for Botta’s 4th Record, “The Boy and The Sea”, and could not have been more appropriate. After two years of carefully cropping this work, Botta’s new concept record blooms as a confident display of songwriting skill and artistic sensitivity. Following radio friendly “Cupido”, a record that enlisted platinum pop rock producer Jim Ebert, Daniel Alejandro Gomez, the band’s front man and main writing force, conceptualized a record intended to capture the essence of his childhood reflected in that of his own children. Gomez channeled his vision through the voice of one of his favorite childhood book characters, “The Little Prince”, in the context of his relationship with the ocean, a place where Gomez always found a great deal of comfort during his somewhat turbulent upbringing. “Watching my children grow has made me contemplate life differently, children are pure entities full of unadulterated emotions that are fundamentally good, we adults tend to mess things up for them…the message is simple: keep your inner child as intact as possible; dream, be vulnerable, be tender, laugh, cry, enjoy the simple things like eating cookies or running naked in the rain” says Gomez. While stylistically a bit unlike any of their previous records, this one feels more like an evolution rather than a direction change; Botta preserves its melodic personality but Gomez displays more versatility in his singing style, ranging from intimate piano falsettos to powerful grunge-like choruses. Seth Elias (drums) and Tim MacCabe (bass) display some of their most relevant tracks to date. Look out for unconventional progressive-rock beats and memorable bass lines. Santi Torres’ tasteful keyboards add great depth to these tracks. Additionally, Gomez who produced the album and recorded a good chunk at his own studio enlisted the help of local musicians Koky Flores (guitar) and Javier Godinez (violin) from the DC scene, adding the “cherry on top “to selected tracks. All-in-all, Botta’s 4th record is independently conceived but has the chops of a big label release. For more info go to www.bottamusic.com