The patience of millions of fans of Mexican alternative rock group Zoé was rewarded recently with the release of the band’s highly-anticipated new single “10 A.M.” The track is the first single off the group’s new album, “Prográmaton,” scheduled for release in late October, nearly five years to the day of the release of “Reptilectric.”
The song originally debuted in mid-August on “La Hora Nacional,” a federally funded radio program based in Mexico City that promotes Mexican culture and Mexican identity by promoting and supporting the various components of the arts. Zoé, who deserve to be just as big as Maná, fit that bill as one of the country’s top artists.
The band released the video for “10 A.M.” days later and, visually speaking, it’s certainly much different than anything they’ve released thus far. The video is a static shot of a box of audio equipment that measures the audio levels of the song.
In the foreground is a clock flashing different hours of the day with some of the numbers popping up backwards. And that’s it… the band is nowhere to be seen, only heard, remaining hidden from their fans. Neither is there any story told other than what the viewer imagines via the lyrics of the song and imagery of the video.
Five years can feel like an eternity to obsessed fans of any group and there was always that worry about the group disbanding in the back of the minds of many fans.
It also didn’t help when front man León Larregui personally announced the delay of the album last year so he could focus on the release of his solo album “Solstis.” The solo album tends to be the death knell of many groups. Thankfully, it wasn’t so with Zoé.
The band, originally from Cuernavaca but in Mexico City since 1997, found most of its success independently of a major label. The band booked their own shows and recorded and published their self-titled debut album independently despite having signed a contract with EMI at the time. A contract with Sony brought them fame thanks to a larger publishing deal but the band left the label soon after due to a number of disagreements.
Their most recent album, 2011’s “MTV Unplugged: Música De Fondo,” featured acoustic versions of all their hits plus collaborations with Enrique Bunbury, Chetes and many other musical superstars.
Originally published on VOXXI as Mexican alternative rock’s Zoé returns with new single ’10 A.M.’