Siempre

Album Review

Regional Mexican artists who record for Fonovisa are known for recording frequently; some of them will come out with two or perhaps even three new albums in the course of a year. Thus, if a banda, norteño, ranchera, or grupero artist (or a regional Mexican artist who embraces different regional Mexican styles) has spent ten or 15 years at Fonovisa, it's quite possible that he/she has built a huge catalog. But in the late 2000s, Costumbre didn't record as often as other regional Mexican acts that were part of Fonovisa's roster; three years passed between 2006's Entrégame and the group's next Fonovisa album, Siempre (Always). Stylistically, very little changed for Costumbre between Entrégame and Siempre; this 2009 release pretty much picks up where Entrégame left off, and that means offering another reliably satisfying dose of norteño romantico. Costumbre are not a terribly challenging group, but then, they never claimed to be. Crossover norteño along the lines of Intocable is their forte, and that approach continues to yield likable results on pop-flavored tracks such as "Asi Es la Vida" (That's the Way Life Is), "Todo o Nada" (All or Nothing), "Vale la Pena" (It's Worth It), and "Como Me Haces Falta" (How I Miss You). Siempre isn't a ranchera manifesto, and it doesn't pretend to rival Los Tigres del Norte or Los Tucanes de Tijuana in the social commentary department. But from a crossover perspective, Siempre is an artistic success — and it is hard to imagine someone who enjoyed Entrégame not enjoying Siempre as well. Siempre was worth the three-year wait.