Julieta Venegas
Record review
Reviewed by Raoul Hernandez, Fri., June 30, 2006
Julieta Venegas
Limón y Sal (Norte/Sony)
The honeymoon's over, but the loving just gets better. Julieta Venegas' fourth album, named either for dos cantina food groups or that which you'd rub into an open wound, seesaws between ardor and exile atop a melodically buoyant bed of Latinismo. Imagine getting hitched and ditched in Cancun on the same weekend. Tijuana's primera señorita of Rock en Español, last witnessed in a wedding gown on 2004's Sí, satin glove pulling off in the teeth of her kittenish smile, continues dressing up the unsentimental yet deeply romantic confessionalism of her first two releases in irresistibly indigenous pop. If Gloria Estefan renounced Miami discos for Venegas' accordion lessons, she might warrant a shot of Limón y Sal. "Canciones de Amor" refutes happy endings, while "Me Voy" leaves him flat, the opening duo insatiable. Ditto for the bittersweet title track, with its jump-rope lope and pigtails. Hopper "Primer Día" is only half hip, and the middle third, pushing and pulling with heart/break, blurs almost too festive, but "Dulce Compañía" ("You're sweet company, and my soul's thirsty"), runway-strut "Eres Para Mí," and stake-planting closer "Te Voy a Mostrar" are undeniable. Julieta Venegas: Spanish as a second language. Por favor.
