By John Ostapowicz
Four years after the release of The Labra Brothers’ debut album “Colder Weather,” the band of brothers is following up with a nine-track LP on Nov. 3 titled “Home.”
The Mahoning Valley has a large Hispanic community and The Labra Brothers look to provide Latin-styled music to the local area with several tracks sung primarily in Spanish.
The record will pay homage to old-school Hispanic roots while incorporating The Labra Brothers’ style, which makes its music unique to Youngstown.
For guitarist and lead vocalist Adrian Labra, it’s about staying true to the band’s Hispanic heritage and incorporating culture into the band’s music.
“We’re really just trying to reflect who we are through our music. We are Mexican-American and the Spanish language is a big part of that,” Adrian Labra said. “It’s been tough but fun to kind of hone in on what it means for us.”
The album will feature two reworked versions of previously released tracks: “Be Cool – acoustic version” and “Not Far From Home – en español.”
Earlier this year, The Labra Brothers released an EP, “Be Cool,” which featured a spanish track “Los Días” and the self-titled track featured a bilingual mix of lyrics.
Finding new ways to incorporate the Spanish language in the band’s music is bassist Cristian Labra’s favorite part of the band’s creative process.
“Spanish is our second language. We were working out the kinks of the lyrics,” Cristian Labra said. “We branched out and we tried some new styles out.”
The brothers had a busy 2023 as they partnered with local musicians such as Unc D and Black Wolf & the Thief.
Rhythm guitarist and saxophonist David Labra feels the band is constantly listening to different music and artists to grab inspiration for the band’s next project.
“We’re always drawing from different sources of inspiration. Individually most of the songs have been written by Adrian, Cristian and myself so far, and you can clearly hear the blend of what we are listening to during the creative process,” David Labra said.
The Labra Brothers strive to give the audience something they haven’t heard before by collaborating with different artists to mix up the sound for the band’s listeners.
“We try to mix it up wherever we can. When [the audience] comes to see a new show, they can expect to see something new in a way they haven’t seen it before,” Adrian Labra said.
In celebration of Día de los Muertos and the release of The Labra Brothers’ new album, the brothers will partner with the Canton Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 4 at the Canton Palace Theatre.
Tickets for the show can be purchased at cantonsymphony.org.
For the band, this will be its first live performance with the new songs as well as a new opportunity to play at a larger venue.
“It will be the first time we will be performing the new songs live and will be with the full orchestra,” Adrian Labra said. “Amongst ourselves we are just making sure we are practiced up and ready to nail them.”
The Labra Brothers’ new album will be available to stream on Spotify, Youtube and Apple Music. To keep up to date with the band’s live shows and new music, visit thelabrabrothers.com.