Y La Bamba break down every track on their great new album 'Lucha'

Y La Bamba released their seventh album, Lucha, today. The title has a double meaning: it’s the nickname of primary member Luz Elena Mendoza Ramos, but it also means “to fight.” Luz says “’Lucha’ is a symbol of how hard it is for me to tackle healing, live life, and be present,” with songs about love, queerness, their Mexican American and Chicanx identity, ancestral trauma, and the social upheaval of 2020. While the album has heavy themes and is deeply personal, Lucha is effortless to listen to, sounding wonderfully sunbaked as if these songs have always existed, beautiful, mysterious and just out of reach. Listen to the album below.

For more on Lucha, Luz was nice enough to give us track by track commentary on the album which you can read below.

Y La Bamba are also on tour now and will be in NYC to play a free show at SummerStage at Central Park on July 19 with Julia Jacklin and Black Belt Eagle Scout. All dates are listed below.

Y LA BAMBA – LUCHA – TRACK BY TRACK

1. Eight
This song feels like the end of an era, while going through some intense health issues. It was written right after I found out a friend by the name of Nectali Diaz AKA Sumo passed away. I had just been living in Mexico City for a few months and hearing this news cut deep for a lot of us in the community. It’s a collage of my rainy summer days in the city and contemplating all the feelings of sadness while painting a picture of my environment. It also has a somber feeling of it being my last album, I felt like a death of old narratives. I have thought about not touring anymore, not performing anymore to tend to my health. A lot of unknowns, a lot of goodbyes.

2. Dibujos
This song was written for a romantic partner right before the shutdown in 2020. It’s a song of longing for this person but at the same time trying to detach myself from the unhealthy parts of connection.

3. La lluvia De Guadalajara
This track is a poem and it was written for my family. especially my brothers.
Expressing my solitude as the only sister, the only daughter. The loneliness i have carried throughout the years while self realizing myself in this beautiful chaos. It’s a poetic bridge to my experience wanting to heal all the complicated hauntings of ancestral trauma.

4. Collapse
This song is about my self empowerment, and not giving up on my evolution. And I’m not just talking about as a artist. It’s about not holding back my intuition. It’s a song about realizing that I have gotten myself this far even though shit has been rough for many years. “I don’t need anything from nobody” meaning I am going to access my personal discovery and self worth on my own.

5. Hues
Hues is also a song about not being anyone’s fool. I’m no longer fooled by the narcissism in past friendships and intimate relationships. It’s a homecoming to my boundaries.

6. Nunca
Nunca is for my mother and the ongoing journey of dismantling patriarchy, surviving domestic violence. My mom has such a pure innocent perspective on life and though she has gone and continues to go through hardship she has such strong love and light. I hope to keep shining her light in my personal life

SIDE: B

1. I’m so Lonesome I could cry
I did this cover in the beginning of the shut down. Definitely Lonely As Fuck.
This moment really captures the first few weeks of a very painful global journey.

2. Ceniza
Another song about healing ancestral trauma, this song is literally a “limpia” a ritual to cleanse myself from negative energy.

3. Damned
I have had such an off and on difficult relationship with self-love. Trying to achieve what used to feel impossible and nurture the beginning of allowing myself to love and be loved.

4. Mas Manos
This song is about the Uprising. I wrote this song right after the death of George Floyd. My dreams started to shift, everything was different, everything was crumbling to be rebuilt again. It’s about decolonizing, climate change, reclaiming my roots, deprograming identity, and grieving what will no longer be the same

5. Walk Along
Walk along was the first song I wrote for a woman. This song came from going through the motions of falling for her. A strong part of myself that needed to be revealed and celebrated. Definitely a vulnerability that has helped me heal and come out with my sexuality without fear.

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Y La Bamba – 2023 Tour Dates
April 29 – Sacramento, CA – Starlet Room
April 30 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
May 02 – Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
May 03 – Santa Barbara, CA – SoHo
May 04 – San Diego, CA – Casbah
May 05 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
May 06 – Santa Fe, NM – El Rey Court
May 07 – Albuquerque, NM – Fusion 708
May 09 – Dallas, TX – Tulips
May 11 – McAllen, TX –Gremlin
May 12 – San Antonio, TX – Jaime’s Place
May 13 – Austin, TX – The Ballroom
May 16 – Washington, DC – Songbyrd
May 17 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
May 19 – Cincinnati, OH – Northside Tavern
May 20 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
May 21 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
May 23 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
May 25 – Mexico City, MX – Foro Cultural Hilvana
July 19 – NYC – Central Park SummmerStage
July 21-23 – Redmond, OR – Fairwell Festival
Aug 27 – Port Townsend, WA – THING Fest