Titanic – the duo of Mabe Fratti and Héctor Tosta (aka I. la Católica) – have a new album called Hagen coming out on 5 September and have today shared a new single from it called “La dueña”.
Tosta says: “I remember that we were in Austria waiting backstage to do a show as an opener for Ben Howard. I was playing the guitar just to warm up for the show but noodling around and fell in love with a very simple progression of chords. A progression that I have played a million times and that you can find in a million songs. I don’t know why but in that particular time I fell in love with it. Then, when we were on the plane going back to México, I started to write in my notebook a lot of options of a heartbroken elegant and classic old lady that felt betrayed by love. In that year I was going very often to a karaoke bar in Mexico called el Timon de Cortez and I just realised how good it feels to sing a ballad with all your heart.”
It seems Fratti shares Tosta’s taste for singing a ballad, because she puts her all into this one, stretching her higher register to wring out the emotion of despair and loneliness. This is amplified by the elegiac arrangement, which has the partners’ signature cello and guitar describing vicious peaks of tension and collapse while synth and percussion bolsters the expansive sound, creating a dramatic soundscape fit for a telenovela.
Telenovelas are in fact the inspiration for the video for “La dueña”, which you can watch below. Otherwise find the track on streamers.
Titanic’s new album Hagen arrives on 5 September through Unheard of Hope. It follows up their 2023 debut, Vidrio, which placed among BPM’s Top 50 albums of that year.
They have these tour dates ahead:
Aug 30th | Wiltshire, UK – End of the Road Festival
Sept 2nd | Berlin, DE – Kantine am Berghain
Sept 3rd | Jena, DE – Trafo
Sept 4th | Prague, CZ – Studio Hrdinů
Sept 6th | Düdingen, CH – Bad Bonn Kilbi
Sept 8th | Brussels, BE – Botanique Witloof Bar
Sept 9th | Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso (Upper Floor Stage)
Sept 11th | Nottingham, UK – Rock City *
Sept 12th | Manchester, UK – Albert Hall *
Sept 13th | Manchester, UK – Albert Hall *
Sept 16th | Lille, FR – L’Aéronef ^
Sept 18th | Hamburg, DE – Reeperbahn Festival
Oct 12th | Paris, FR – Lafayette Anticipations
Oct 21st | Bristol, UK – Lantern Hall
Oct 22nd | Manchester, UK – The White Hotel
Oct 23rd | Glasgow, UK – The Rum Shack
Oct 29th | London, UK – Institute of Contemporary Arts
Oct 31st | Torino, IT – Club to Club Festival
* w/ Black Country, New Road
^ w/ Caroline
