Y La Bamba is a decidedly breezy musical project, but just because something is gentle doesn’t mean it isn’t also powerful. Volcanoes and earthquakes capture the headlines, but our world is just as shaped by a persistent wind and a winding stream. Don’t underestimate the strength of a breeze.

Led by singer-songwriter Luz Elena Mendoza Ramos, Y La Bamba has only grown more sophisticated in the 16 years since their already-impressive self-produced debut, refining a sound that draws from indie-pop and alt-folk as much as from the mariachi and canciones that Ramos absorbed at family gatherings during their childhood summers in California's San Joaquin Valley. It’s a multi-faceted, multi-lingual, genre-fluid sound, ably echoing Ramos’ lyrical reflections on identity, queerness and other ideas that resist clear boundaries.

That ambiguity carries over into the title of their latest release. Lucha translates to “struggle,” but it also doubles as a nickname for people named Luz, tying together ideas of identity and conflict for an album they describe as “a battle cry to fight in order to be seen and accepted.” Forceful without being aggressive, transformative without being explosive, it’s a battle Y La Bamba is fighting on their own terms—through gorgeous melodies and a commitment to following their own path, wherever it may lead.

— Peter Hemminger